Boeing and MemorialCare Health System Partner on Boeing's First California Customized Health Plan Option Offering Better Benefits and Lower Costs for Boeing Employees and Their Families

LOS ANGELES and ORANGE Counties, Calif., June 21, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Boeing Company selected MemorialCare Health System for a first-of-its-kind customized health plan option in California for almost all of Boeing's employees and their dependents in the Long Beach, South Bay and Orange County communities. Boeing has about 15,000 employees and 22,000 dependents in California, most of those in the Southern California region. The Preferred Partnership is designed to improve health, enhance the patient experience and make health care more affordable for Boeing and those employees who choose it. 

This transformational arrangement will add the health system's MemorialCare Health Alliance ACO (Accountable Care Organization) health plan option to Boeing's open enrollment this fall, with services beginning Jan. 1, 2017.  The new option centers on keeping people healthy and out of the hospital by focusing on best practice, evidence-based prevention, diagnoses and treatments to identify and treat underlying health problems before they become chronic conditions. This value-based approach to health care was pioneered nationally by MemorialCare decades ago and key to Boeing's decision to choose the highly respected MemorialCare and its partners to serve its employees.

Boeing employees choosing MemorialCare Health Alliance will be offered enhanced health benefits and incentives at lower costs. These include decreased paycheck deductions for health care coverage, no office-visit copayments for network primary care physician visits, 100 percent coverage for generic-drug prescriptions (for high-deductible plans, benefits apply when deductible is met) and freedom to choose specialists within the network without a primary care physician referral. Other features are increased company contributions to a health savings account for eligible participants, quicker access to network primary care providers and specialists, additional after-hours care, more personalized and coordinated care, greater use of electronic messaging with providers and access to medical records. Emergency care will be covered at in-network levels, even if received outside the MemorialCare network.

The world's largest aerospace company, Boeing selected MemorialCare as its exclusive Preferred Partnership provider in the Southern California region after a rigorous competitive process. The selection was based in part on MemorialCare's reputation for their high quality of care, broad geographic reach and the depth of their extensive physician, hospital and community outpatient center network. In addition, MemorialCare's commitment to improving health and patient experiences was among other key factors.  

"MemorialCare and its partners have a long track record of health care leadership and innovation in Southern California, as well as a strong market presence," says Jeff White, Boeing's Director of Health Care Strategy.

"MemorialCare and Boeing aspire to deliver a health care experience as well-engineered and trustworthy as the aerospace products designed and built by Boeing employees," says Barry Arbuckle, Ph.D., MemorialCare Health System President & CEO. "Every major initiative MemorialCare pursues is thoughtfully executed to prepare for transformative, value-based health care products for employers and health plans like the Boeing partnership."

MemorialCare will be directly accountable for providing high-quality, coordinated health care services, and an exceptional customer experience for eligible Boeing employees and their families. These help ensure convenient and timely patient appointments while maintaining the highest level of quality, safety and satisfaction; reduce readmissions to hospitals after treatments; and effectively manage chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease.

Medical services will be primarily provided by MemorialCare's highly regarded and extensive network of top hospitals, doctors and community-based urgent care, medical imaging, ambulatory surgery and dialysis centers and other programs that for decades have been caring for thousands of Boeing employees and families.

To further expand network choices and access across the broad geography Boeing employees live and work, MemorialCare partnered with other highly acclaimed health care providers that are also familiar to Boeing's workforce, including Torrance Memorial Health System, UC Irvine Health, PIH Health and affiliated physician groups—MemorialCare Medical Group, Greater Newport Physicians (GNP), Edinger Medical Group, Torrance Memorial Integrated Physicians, PIH Health Physicians medical group, UC Irvine Health Medical Group, UC Irvine Health University Physicians and Surgeons specialists; select physicians from Monarch Healthcare; and hundreds of independent physicians. The network encompasses more than 2,400 primary care and specialty physicians and providers, 9 hospitals and 71 community-based ambulatory surgery, medical imaging, urgent care and dialysis centers and dozens of other services throughout the Southland.

The network features some of Southern California's best known academic, teaching, community and specialty hospitals. These include MemorialCare's Long Beach Memorial, nationally recognized comprehensive teaching hospital; Miller Children's & Women's Hospital Long Beach, among the country's 10 largest and most prominent children's hospitals; Community Hospital Long Beach, known for extensive mental health services; Saddleback Memorial Medical Center Laguna Hills, appearing on Top 50 U.S. Hospitals list and Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center Fountain Valley, voted by Orange County residents as among the best. They are joined by Torrance Memorial Medical Center, voted region's best hospital; PIH Health hospitals in Whittier and Downey, regional hospital leaders; and UC Irvine Medical Center, a top 25 academic medical center.  

"Because the majority of Boeing employees live throughout the greater Long Beach, South Bay and Orange County communities well served by MemorialCare and its partners, many are accustomed to and comfortable with the network's primary care and specialty physicians, hospitals, outpatient and community outreach programs," adds Boeing's Jeff White.

"Our 109-year history dedicated to rigorous pursuit of the highest quality care uniquely positions MemorialCare to deliver positive results whether driven by employers or health plans seeking greater value from health systems," adds Dr. Arbuckle. "Creating MemorialCare Physician Society decades ago focusing on evidence-based medicine; implementing electronic medical records for seamless integration among entities; embedding lean management throughout our culture; extensive, convenient, cost-effective community-based care; and strength in data and analytics allow us to offer employers an entire continuum of high quality, efficient and effective services with predictable costs and impressive outcomes." 

SOURCE MemorialCare Health System