Priority Health and McLaren Health Care reach new agreement to expand access to care for Michiganders

Insurance Weekly News

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Priority Health has reached an agreement with McLaren Health Care that enables Priority Health customers with HMO, PPO, POS and Medicare Advantage coverage to seek health care services with McLaren's hospitals and physician hospital organizations statewide. This new agreement adds the McLaren hospitals located in Lansing, Bay City, Lapeer and Flint and nearly 1,000 physicians to the Priority Health network.

"We're committed to offering greater options for individuals and employer groups seeking access to high quality health care and our expanded agreement with McLaren delivers on that commitment," said Joan Budden, president and CEO of Priority Health. "Our partnership and continued growth with McLaren Health Care has been of tremendous value as we continue to expand the Priority Health provider network statewide."

The agreement expands an existing relationship between Priority Health and McLaren that dates back to 2007. In October 2014, Priority Health and McLaren entered into an updated agreement that established McLaren's Northern Michigan, Central Michigan, Karmanos, Oakland and Macomb hospitals as part of the Priority Health provider network.

"The expansion of our existing relationship represents a natural evolution of this strategic partnership," said Phil Incarnati, President and CEO of McLaren. "Providing Priority Health's customers with greater access to McLaren's state-wide network of hospitals and physicians is truly a win-win combination for our respective organizations."

For more information on Priority Health, visit priorityhealth.com. A complete list of physicians and hospitals also is available by using the Priority Health online Find a Doctor tool. About Priority Health: Priority Health is an award-winning, Michigan-based non-profit health plan nationally recognized for improving the health and lives of its members. It continues to lead the industry in engaging members in their health, delivering effective health and disease management programs and working with physicians to improve health care outcomes and performance. Priority Health is one of only 20 health plans nationwide with wellness programs accredited by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, an organization that also rated its plans among the best health plans in the nation. Priority Health was also named the benchmark plan, by the State of Michigan, for all individual and group plans to model.

Priority Health offers a broad portfolio of health benefit options for employer groups and individuals, including Medicare and Medicaid plans. Its network of health care providers features 95 percent of practicing physicians available in Michigan and more than 900,000 nationwide. For more information, visit priorityhealth.com. About McLaren Health Care: McLaren Health Care, headquartered in Flint, Michigan, is a fully integrated health network committed to quality evidence-based patient care and cost efficiency. The McLaren system includes 12 hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, an employed primary care physician network, commercial and Medicaid HMOs covering more than 240,000 lives, home health and hospice providers, retail medical equipment showrooms, pharmacy services, and a wholly owned medical malpractice insurance company. McLaren operates Michigan's largest network of cancer centers and providers, anchored by the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, one of only 45 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive centers in the U.S. McLaren has 22,500 employees and more than 44,000 network providers. Its operations are housed in more than 350 facilities serving the entire Lower Peninsula of the state of Michigan along with a portion of the Upper Peninsula. Learn more at mclaren.org. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124006352/en/