Included Health Selects Carrum Health as Preferred Partner for Value-Based Specialty Care
Partnership embeds Carrum's high-value Centers of Excellence network directly into Included Health's Alternative Health Plan offering, helping employers connect members to high-quality care with more predictable costs
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Carrum Health, the leader in value-based specialty care, and Included Health, a new kind of healthcare company delivering personalized all-in-one healthcare to millions of people nationwide, today announced a preferred Centers of Excellence (COE) partnership spanning multiple product lines. The relationship features specialty care directly embedded within Included Health's Alternative Health Plan, combined with broader integration across other core solutions to connect members with value-based care.
Employers and plan sponsors are facing the steepest healthcare cost increases in more than a decade, with specialty care driving nearly 50% of spending. To bend the cost curve, employers need solutions that go beyond simple provider search to deliver rigorously vetted clinical quality and pre-negotiated bundled rates. By embedding Carrum's specialty care network into Included Health's Alternative Health Plan offering, the partnership connects plan design, navigation, and value-based care in one coordinated experience.
This integration delivers greater cost predictability, clinical outcome accountability, and simplified, streamlined contracting, eliminating the administrative burden of managing disconnected point solutions.
"Specialty care is often where the biggest decisions and the biggest costs sit," said Ami Parekh, MD, Chief Health Officer at Included Health. "By working with Carrum Health and bringing their value-based specialty care into our alternative plan offering, we can help members reach high-quality care sooner, with clear guidance and clear costs. Together, we're giving employers a more practical way to manage high-cost needs while improving the experience for people who are already going through a lot."
Connecting Primary and Specialty Care
The collaboration targets high-impact, high-variability procedures including surgeries, cancer care, and substance use disorder treatment. When a member requires complex specialty care, Included Health identifies the need early through primary care visits, navigation touchpoints, in-app behavior, and claims data, and refers them to Carrum. Post-treatment, Carrum transitions the member back to Included for longitudinal support.
"If you look at any employer's claims data, the same pattern shows up: specialty care drives the highest costs, the most variable outcomes, and the moments when employees most need guidance and least often get it," said Matthew Eurey, Chief Commercial Officer at Carrum Health. "Our embedded partnership with Included Health offers employers one comprehensive solution to manage primary and specialty care from day one. That means fewer members navigating a surgery, cancer diagnosis, or substance use disorder on their own, and fewer employers dealing with an array of benefits solutions."
How Members and Employers Benefit:
- For Members: A single, guided, continuous healthcare journey. Members receive concierge support from initial referral through treatment, recovery and follow-up. This eliminates friction, decision fatigue and surprise bills, while ensuring seamless access to high-quality specialty care providers.
- For Employers: Higher employee adoption through embedded care workflows, predictable episode costs, reduced readmissions, and a unified health plan structure that eliminates procurement friction and vendor complexity.
About Included Health
Included Health is a new kind of healthcare company that delivers personalized all-in-one healthcare to millions of people nationwide. We provide healthcare access, answers, and advocacy through a modern experience designed to treat people better, mind, body, and wallet. It is all included: comprehensive virtual and in-person care, system-wide navigation and care coordination, and 24/7 support for every clinical and administrative need. Our members see better doctors, experience better outcomes, and have more healthy days, all at lower cost. Learn more at includedhealth.com.
About Carrum Health
Carrum Health's mission is to change how we pay for and deliver specialty care. We offer self-insured employers and plan sponsors a value-based specialty care solution that connects their members with a rigorously vetted network of Centers of Excellence providers. Carrum's upfront, all-inclusive bundled pricing, award-winning technology, and dedicated care navigation team help lower costs for both members and employers while delivering a superior member experience. Carrum is independently validated to reduce unnecessary procedures by as much as 30 percent, lower readmissions by 80 percent, and save employers up to 45 percent per episode of surgical care. Learn more at carrumhealth.com.
Media Contacts:
Padma Nagappan
Alex Maynard
SOURCE Carrum Health
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