Humana Teams with DrFirst on New Program

Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) shares began Wednesday solidly higher. The company, one of the nation's leading health and well-being companies, and health technology pioneer DrFirst today announced the launch of a program designed to close gaps in care for patients with chronic health conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular disease while helping health care providers take timely, informed action.

The first phase of this novel program aims to increase the use of statin therapy among eligible patients, aligning with a key quality metric from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

The use of statins for certain Medicare patients is associated with lower cardiovascular risk, better outcomes and reduced health care costs. To address this, Humana is partnering with DrFirst to connect with prescribers within the clinical workflow. Using the DrFirst prescription orchestration platform, Humana can now initiate new prescription recommendations for these high-risk patients and submit them to the health care provider for consideration. With one click, the provider can approve the prescription recommendation and generate a new prescription or note why it is not an appropriate choice for the patient.

Said Humana President Bethanie Stein, "We're not just flagging care opportunities—we're making sure they get to providers in a way that's timely and easy to act on. By reaching providers in their workflow, we're freeing them to focus on patient care, which in turn can help address gaps in care, promote quality and lead to better health outcomes."

HUM shares vaulted $2.35 to $277.29.