Humana 2001 Annual Report Download - page 10

Humana Personal Nu r s e : This new service now in
place in eve ry Humana market assigns a single nurse
to telephonically interact with seriously ill members
to help them navigate the healthcare system and
educate them about benefits, claims payment, and
p rescription drug options while supporting the
member between doctor visits.
In short, we’re deploying technology to smooth and
speed the transactional side of healthcare delive r y
while enabling physicians and patients to better
manage the clinical side. To make healthcare work
m o r e effectively for consumers, our responsibility is
to help shorten and smooth the pathways to the
kind of care they choose.
A l re a d y, our members are letting us know how these
i n n ovations are positively impacting their live s .
Amy Castillo of Mesa, Ariz., wrote to praise Laura
We s t - R a m i r ez, an Arizona-based Personal Nurse, for
her support of Humana member Carmen Castro.
Castillo wrote, “It is hard to find good service these
days, but it is unheard of to find excellent and
thoughtful service over a long period of time . . .
Laura has gone out of her way to call and check on
Ms. Castro . . . I cannot begin to tell you how
helpful and dependable Laura has been.”
Consumers want to control their healthcare, with
advice from their doctors, financial support fro m
their employers, information from the Internet
and other re s o u rces, and input from re l a t i v es and
friends. Humana is continually working to
understand consumers’ needs and provide the
information and solutions they’re looking for.
The Humana innovations described below highlight
some of the ways we’re putting consumers first:
Humana Rx4: The health industry’s first four-tier
p rescription drug benefit allows our members access
to virtually any medication by va r ying copayments.
Em p h e s y s : With this new online, fully interactive
health plan, Humana delivers unmatched
customer service, via user-friendly technology
d e v eloped “f r om the ground up” exc l u s i v ely for
the Internet. Nearly all plan transactions are
a v ailable on the We b. For example, members can
e n roll, add or delete dependents, and access
information about claims and prescription drugs,
all online. Em p l o yers have convenient We b - b a s e d
e n r ollment and other self-service options to more
easily administer their health benefits. These
simplified processes save time, reduce the chance
of error and decrease the need for paper forms,
files and re c o rd s .
MyHu m a n a : Taking advantage of the In t e r n e t ’s
unique ability to customize information one person
at a time, MyHumana allows members to design a
“personal home page” on www.humana.com based
on their individual pre f e r ences. Members may
choose health topics to quickly re v i e w curre n t
information about them. They may also re v i e w
recent claims, learn about prescription and alterna-
t i v e drug options, access provider information
including consumer assessments of doctors and
hospitals, utilize decision-support tools and
condition workbooks, access more than 24,000
pages of health content, take a health risk assess-
ment and read personal messages from Humana in
a secured message center.
new solutions for consumers
points of use. At the same time, we will relentlessly strive to execute “the basics” flawlessly.
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