Quartet Health, a behavioral health IT startup that aggregates data from behavioral health and primary care physicians to provide a clearer view of patients, has launched a collaboration with Humana, according to a company news release. Humana will enlist Quartet to help Medicare Advantage patients in Greater New Orleans as part of Humana’s Bold Goal population health initiative to improve the health of its member communities by 20 percent by 2020.
The main thrust of the Bold Goal program focuses on prevention and slowing the progression of chronic diseases. Food insecurity, transportation resources, and health literacy are a few of the priorities the Bold Goals program seeks to address through community partnerships.
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New Orleans makes a compelling setting for Quartet’s technology and the Bold Goal program’s ambitions. Louisiana scores lowest in the nation for the health of the overall population, due to a high incidence of chronic physical conditions, according to data from the Kaiser Health Foundation, the release noted.
Anxiety and depression are comorbidities of chronic conditions, which make it more challenging for patients to stick to their care plans, driving up the cost of healthcare from complications and hospitalization. The idea is that if there were a better technology infrastructure for tracking and following up on behavioral health referrals, some of the challenges patients face in managing their condition could be reduced.
In an interview last year with Andrew Renda, the director of Humana’s Bold Gold initiative he explained the conditions at the heart of Bold Gold — congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, hypertension, COPD, diabetes, and depression.
“We chose these based on incidence, prevalence and health impact,” Renda said. “Over time, we may add others – for instance, cancer, musculoskeletal conditions and additional behavioral health conditions, such as anxiety and substance use disorder.”
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Humana has partnered with other health IT companies to execute Bold Gold initiatives in other areas such as for diabetes prevention with Omada Health and Livongo for diabetes management.
Last year, Quartet Health expanded into Pennsylvania through a deal with Highmark. Other customers include Steward Health and Lahey Health in Boston. Given that Humana has 225,000 members in Louisiana alone, a deeper partnership with the national payer could greatly expand Quartet’s customer base.
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