Articles from Priority Health

Priority Health, a nationally recognized health plan serving more than 1.3 million members, has appointed Carrie Kincaid to oversee government markets for the organization; she will maintain her position as senior vice president of market development.

Priority Health, a Michigan-based health plan serving more than 1.3 million members, is excited to announce the acquisition of control of Physicians Health Plan of Northern Indiana (PHPNI), a health plan based in Fort Wayne that serves more than 50,000 members in Indiana and Ohio.

Priority Health, a nationally recognized nonprofit health plan serving more than 1.3 million members, is ranked No. 1 in overall customer satisfaction among Medicare Advantage plans in Michigan, based on the results of the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Medicare Advantage Study.

Praveen Thadani, president of Priority Health, a nationally recognized nonprofit health plan serving more than 1.3 million members, has received national recognition for his efforts to advance equity and inclusion.

Priority Health, a Michigan-based health plan serving more than 1.3 million members, and Physicians Health Plan of Northern Indiana (PHPNI) have announced plans for Priority Health to acquire PHPNI, a health plan based in Fort Wayne that currently serves more than 52,000 members in Indiana and Ohio.

Christina Barrington, PharmD, vice president and chief pharmacy officer at Priority Health, a nationally recognized nonprofit health plan serving more than 1.3 million members, has been sworn in as president of the Board of Directors for the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) for 2024-2025.

Praveen Thadani, president/CEO of Priority Health, a nationally recognized health plan serving more than 1.3 million members, met with First Lady Jill Biden and other health care executives to discuss expanded care for cancer patients.

Joyce Chan Russell, senior vice president of government markets at Priority Health, has been selected by Modern Healthcare as one of the Top Women Leaders in Health Care for 2024.

There is an update regarding a 2020 security incident involving EyeMed who manages vision benefits on behalf of Priority Health.

Priority Health, a nationally recognized nonprofit health plan serving more than 1.3 million members, is being recognized for its best-in-class customer service.

More than half of parents in Michigan say they are concerned about the mental state of their children. To help reduce anxiety and encourage learning for students, Priority Health has developed a program with Canines for Change, called Priority Pups™. Priority Health will invest in five highly trained working facility dogs over the next several months to place in select Michigan school districts with the potential to scale the program.

Priority Health, a nationally recognized nonprofit health plan, has been awarded Health Equity Accreditation status from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), an organization that works to improve the quality of health care nationwide.

Christina Barrington, vice president of pharmacy programs at Priority Health, will serve as president-elect of the 2023-2024 Board of Directors for the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP). She will then serve as president of the Board of Directors in 2024-2025.

Priority Health has once again been nationally recognized for the quality of its Medicare Advantage plans through the 2023 Medicare Star Ratings released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Praveen Thadani, president of Priority Health, a nationally recognized nonprofit health plan, has been selected as a recipient of the 2022 Bernard J. Tyson Health Equity Award by the Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP).

Priority Health, a nationally recognized nonprofit health plan, and Kroger Health, the health care division of The Kroger Co., announced today the launch of two co-branded Medicare plans with benefits and services that address an individual’s whole-health needs and well-being.

Priority Health announced a three-year partnership extension with National Fitness Campaign (NFC) today to continue the delivery of a comprehensive wellness initiative in Michigan centered on the outdoor Fitness Court®. Priority Health is the official NFC sponsor in Michigan, and the campaign extension will bring up to 30 new Priority Health Fitness Courts by the end of 2025.

The BHSH Spectrum Health West Michigan OB/GYN Residency Practice has been named the first-ever Centering Site of the Year by the Centering Healthcare Institute (CHI) for its work implementing and executing the CenteringPregnancy® care model, in collaboration with Priority Health. Spectrum Health was recognized for patient care as well as how the program adapted and continued to care for expecting women amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Warner Norcross & Judd (WNJ), a Priority Health vendor, learned of a data security incident that may have impacted personal and protected health information belonging to certain individuals. WNJ is a Michigan law firm Priority Health uses for support on occasion.

Priority Health, a nationally recognized nonprofit health plan, announced today an agreement with Homeward, a company committed to rearchitecting the delivery of health and care in partnership with communities everywhere, starting in rural America. Through this partnership, Priority Health Medicare Advantage members who choose to receive care from Homeward will have access to their technology-enabled care team beginning with at-home visits and also available through Homeward’s community-based mobile clinics.

Priority Health, a nationally recognized nonprofit health plan, announced today the launch of PriorityGPS™, an integrated health navigation and advocacy solution. PriorityGPS will be delivered through a strategic partnership with Accolade (Nasdaq: ACCD), a Personalized Healthcare service, and is available for self-funded (ASO), large employers.

Priority Health, a nationally recognized nonprofit health plan, has expanded its maternity management program, PriorityMOM™, to ASO, Medicaid and Individual members.

Following a nationwide search, Priority Health, Michigan’s fastest growing health plan, has appointed Kyla King as vice president of Individual markets, and Scott Norman as vice president for Medicare.

On April 8, 2022, Priority Health became aware of a missing box of medical claims and records. These files were lost in transit to a vendor located in Texas. FedEx has not been able to locate the box and the vendor has no record of receiving it.

Priority Health, Michigan’s fastest growing health plan that now serves more than 1.2 million members, has appointed Shannon Wilson as the first vice president of population health & health equity. Wilson, who previously served as vice president of state markets, east, will now be responsible for quality improvement for Priority Health’s Medicare, Medicaid, Commercial and Individual lines of business. She will also oversee the development and execution of Priority Health’s population health and health equity strategy. Wilson will maintain her position as the executive director of the Total Health Care Foundation.

Priority Health, a nationally recognized nonprofit health plan, announced today a strategic partnership with Accolade (Nasdaq: ACCD), a Personalized Healthcare service, to bring a differentiated health care experience to Michigan employers in the commercial group market and their members. Priority Health and Accolade share a mission to help employees maximize their health plan benefits by creating a member experience uniquely tailored to each person’s needs and preferences.

Priority Health, a nationally recognized nonprofit health plan, has received a $500,000 grant from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund. The grant will be used to support advance care planning by focusing on older adults in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). Priority Health is partnering with Real Time Medical Systems and Probari on this initiative to create a sustainable model around the critical practice of advance care planning.

Priority Health discovered a cyber security incident on Dec. 16, 2021, involving its Member Rewards Program in which an unauthorized individual accessed several Priority Health Member Portal (PHMP) accounts. After conducting a thorough investigation, the company has determined that the unauthorized individual was able to view information within PHMP accounts that may have included names, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, insurance information, claims information and limited medical information. There is no evidence that Social Security Numbers were accessed, and the investigation has not revealed any misuse. However, out of an abundance of caution, Priority Health has alerted all members and employers who were potentially impacted by this incident and is providing a variety of services and measures to help safeguard those individuals.

Priority Health, Michigan’s fastest growing health plan, has appointed Carrie Kincaid to the newly created position of senior vice president of market development, effective immediately. In this role, she will be responsible for establishing and overseeing partnerships that support strategic growth within target markets. Kincaid has been with Priority Health for 16 years and most recently served as the vice president of individual markets.

Priority Health, the nation’s third-largest provider-sponsored health plan, announced today it has partnered with Epic, the most widely used and comprehensive health record system, to implement Payer Platform with its delivery system, Spectrum Health, and other contracted providers already using Epic. The technology will allow for bidirectional real-time exchange of patient health information at the point of care between Priority Health and providers. Through Epic’s Payer Platform, Priority Health aims to reduce administrative burden for providers, lower the cost of care for members and improve quality of care.

Priority Health, Michigan’s fastest growing health plan that now serves more than 1.2 million lives, has appointed three new leaders within the organization’s finance, government markets and actuarial & advanced analytics divisions and created a new role in health plan operations. Praveen Thadani, president of Priority Health, led a comprehensive, nationwide search to find the right internal and external candidates to fill the roles within the growing senior leadership team. Nick Gates now serves as senior vice president of finance, Joyce Chan Russell as senior vice president of government markets, Karena Weikel as senior vice president of advanced analytics and chief actuary and Mike Jasperson in the expanded role of senior vice president of provider network and health plan operations.

Priority Health was one of the first health plans in the country to launch virtual-first health plans in the Individual coverage market. The Telehealth PCP – Virtual First health plans are designed for consumers who are seeking health coverage and are comfortable with online interactions with doctors. For coverage beginning in 2022, the insurer has enhanced its existing virtual-first products and made them even more affordable. Under the new design, virtual visits are available for a low $10 copay before deductible. This is a $20 reduction from previous plan designs.

Today, Priority Health, Michigan’s fastest growing health plan, announced its partnership with Forgotten Harvest to help remove the barriers that prevent access to fresh food and ensure community members have what they need to be and stay healthy. Priority Health is contributing $20,000 to support four of Forgotten Harvest’s mobile pantries in metro Detroit, making healthy foods more accessible to local families and senior citizens this holiday season.

Priority Health announced today the launch of their new MyPriority Travel plans that will go into effect on January 1, 2022. The new plans are designed for consumers who want to travel, both for work and leisure, but still need health coverage when outside the state of Michigan. Members will have access to the same comprehensive in-network benefits when receiving covered services and care from any Cigna provider outside Michigan and within the United States.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires each state to select an Essential Health Benefits (EHB) benchmark plan to serve as a reference for all other individual and small business health plans to follow. The Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS) has once again recommended the Priority Health HMO plan to serve as the Essential Health Benefits (EHB) benchmark plan for the state starting in 2022.

Priority Health, a nationally recognized nonprofit health plan, announced today that it has partnered with Virgin Pulse, the leading global provider leader of technology-based health and wellbeing solutions, as part of its member engagement and wellbeing initiative. Starting in early 2022, the Virgin Pulse platform will become the new engine for the Priority Health Wellbeing Hub to create a more personal, engaging experience for all Commercial, Individual and Medicare members.

Priority Health confirmed today that it will offer $0 cost share coverage for the COVID-19 vaccine “booster” doses that are being recommended for fully vaccinated Americans starting this fall. The CDC and the Biden Administration have developed a plan to begin offering “booster” shots starting September 20, 2021, subject to the FDA conducting an independent evaluation and determination of the safety and effectiveness of a third dose of the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines. The insurer will also continue to offer the initial COVID-19 vaccine doses at no cost. This applies to all of Priority Health’s 1.2 million members across Michigan.

Priority Health, a nationally recognized nonprofit health plan, announced today that it outperformed regional, national and coalition benchmarks for pharmacy costs by up to 30% in 2020*. The company is also extending its partnership with Express Scripts, one of the largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) in the nation through 2025.

Priority Health, a nationally recognized nonprofit health plan, announced today that it has launched a first-of-its-kind “full lifecycle” social determinants of health (SDoH) initiative. Recent research has shown that SDoH, or social factors like access to healthy food, transportation options and financial security, may be responsible for up to 80% of health outcomes1. Priority Health’s program will enable the insurer to proactively identify social risk among its members, initiate culturally-resonant engagement, connect people with critical resources to address their needs, and repeatably measure the impact to refine future programs. Priority Health has partnered with industry leaders Socially Determined, ConsejoSano and Aunt Bertha to create this data-driven, full lifecycle approach for addressing SDoH and improving health outcomes.

Altruista Health has announced today that Priority Health has gone live with the GuidingCare® Authorization Portal, a new tool that will save Michigan providers countless hours in seeking preauthorization on behalf of Priority Health members. Providers can now stop faxing and phoning in requests and get nearly immediate responses through this new electronic portal, developed in a unique collaboration between Altruista, Priority Health and its parent organization, Spectrum Health System.

Priority Health announced today that Megan Schmidt has been promoted to the position of senior vice president of employer solutions. In this role, Schmidt will lead the company’s commercial insurance line of business that serves small and large companies across Michigan. Schmidt has served as vice president of sales and client services for Priority Health for the last four years and has been with the company in a variety of leadership roles since 2005.

In support of the Biden administration’s efforts to provide affordable health coverage to more Americans during the special enrollment period, Priority Health is allowing individuals to carry over their current deductible amount to a new plan. This applies to both new and current members who enroll in a Priority Health plan during the special enrollment period, which runs through August 15, 2021. While other insurers have agreed to carry over deductible spending between plan types, Priority Health is the only health plan in Michigan allowing consumers to bring their deductible with them if they switch from another insurer.