 | This articlecontainspromotional content. Please helpimprove it by removingpromotional language and inappropriateexternal links, and by adding encyclopedic text written from aneutral point of view.See ouradvice if the article is about you and read ourscam warning in case someone asks for money to edit this article.(February 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | |
| Founded | August 18, 1961; 64 years ago (1961-08-18) (as Extendicare Inc.) Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. |
Key people |
|
| Products | |
| Revenue |  US$118 billion (2024) |
 US$2.56 billion (2024) | |
| US$1.21 billion (2024) | |
| Total assets | US$46.5 billion (2024) |
| Total equity | US$16.4 billion (2024) |
Number of employees | 65,680 (2024) |
| Website | humana.com |
| Footnotes / references [1] | |
Humana Inc. is an Americanfor-profithealth insurance company based inLouisville,Kentucky. In 2024, the company ranked 92 on theFortune 500 list,[2] which made it the highest ranked (by revenues) company based inKentucky.[citation needed] It is the fourth largest health insurance provider in the U.S.[3]
Lawyers David A. Jones Sr. andWendell Cherry founded anursing home company in 1961.[4] The company, known in 1968 as Extendicare Inc., became the largest nursing home company in the United States. In 1972, Jones and Cherry sold the nursing home chain to purchasehospitals.[5]
In 1974, the partners changed the corporate name to Humana Inc.[5] The name was meant to change public perception from 'warehousing' or indifferently treating people to providing a higher level of human care and, by extension, more humane care.[6] It grew in the following years, both by business and in 1978 through the takeover of American Medicorp Inc.,[7] which doubled the company's size, and grew into the world's largest hospital company in the 1980s.[8] During this period, Humana developed the double corridor model for hospital construction. This design minimized the distance between patients and nurses by placing nursing support services in the interior of the building with patient rooms surrounding the perimeter.[citation needed]
As theAmerican health care system changed in the 1980s, "one of its hospitals in Arizona lost a contract with the largest health-maintenance organization in the area [and] Humana created its ownhealth insurance plan."[5]
In 1993, Humana had become the largest hospital operator in the country, owning 77 hospitals.[citation needed] Humana executives spun off hospital operations from health insurance operations to create Galen Health Care. The following year they sold the 73 hospitals of Galen Health Care Inc. to Nashville-based ColumbiaHospital Corporation of America for $3.4 billion.[5]
In 1998, one year after Jones had stepped aside as CEO,United Healthcare made an unsuccessful attempt to acquire Humana.[5] Humana pulled out of the acquisition after United stock dropped $2.9 billion in value.[9] In 2001, Humana was a cofounder of Availity.[10]
In 2005, Humana entered into abusiness partnership withVirgin Group, offering financial incentives to members for healthy behavior, such as regular exercise.[11]
On November 16, 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Humana Inc. partnered to expand on traditional private-sector approaches to population health management.[12]
In 2010, Humana bought Texas-basedConcentra Inc., which owns urgent-care and physical therapy centers, for $790 million, effectively returning to healthcare services.[5] In May 2011, Humana announced it would be usingmobileStorm to transmit protected health information to patients.[13]
In March 2015, Humana announced the sale of Concentra to private equity firmWelsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe andSelect Medical Holdings Corporation for about $1 billion, with proceeds to fund a "$2 billion share buyback program and other corporate spending."[14]
In July 2015,Aetna announced that it would acquire Humana for $37 billion in cash and stock (approximately $230 a share at that time). Aetna and Humana shareholders would own 74% and 26% of the new combined company, however the merger was blocked by a federal judge in January 2017.[15][16] In February 2017,Aetna Inc. and Humana Inc. quashed a $34 billion merger agreement after judges ruled against the merger for a second time.[17]
In July 2018, Humana joined twoprivate equity firms in the acquisition ofKindred Healthcare. The deal provided Humana with a 40% stake in the company's home health, hospice and community care businesses, called "Kindred at Home," for approximately $800 million.[18][19] In August 2018, Humana announced the creation of a digital health and analytics division called Humana Studio H.[20]
In December 2019, the company announced it would acquire Enclara Healthcare from Consonance Capital Partners and Enclara management.[21]
In 2021, Susan Diamond, formerly occupying an interim position, was announced to be the new permanent CFO. Her appointment to the position comes with the company's focus being turned towards the home healthcare business, acquiring in April of the same year a 60% stake in Kindred at Home, an in-home care and hospice business.[22][23][24]
In April 2022, it was announced Humana would sell a 60% interest of its Kindred at Home division to the private investment company,Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, for US$2.8 billion.[25]
In February 2023, Humana announced they were exiting the employer-based commercial group insurance market.[26]
Humana is the presenting sponsor of theGrand Ole Opry[27] and theNational Senior Games.[28]
Since 1979, Humana has been a principal sponsor of the annualHumana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville, Kentucky.[29]
Humana was a tour partner of the PGA Tour beginning from 2005 to 2015.[30][31]
TheHumana Distaff Handicap is aGrade 1 race forthoroughbredfillies andmares, four-years-old and up. The race is run each spring onKentucky Derby day atChurchill Downs and set at a distance of 7 furlongs for a purse of $250,000.[citation needed]
In 1993, Humana founded Humana Military Healthcare Services (HMHS) as a wholly owned subsidiary.[5] They were awarded their firstTRICARE contract in 1995, and began serving military beneficiaries in 1996.[32]
From 2004 to 2009, HMHS was the managed care contractor for the Department of DefenseMilitary Health SystemTRICARE South Region.
In 2009, HMHS' Managed Care Support Contract was awarded to United Military and Veterans Services, a subsidiary ofUnitedHealth Group. HMHS protested that decision and theGovernment Accountability Office upheld the protest in late 2009.[33]
In 2011, HMHS regained the five-year contract to administer medical benefits to military members and families in the South region, a contract worth $23.5 billion.[5] In 2018, this was moved to the new TRICARE East region during the TRICARE regional realignment.
On December 22, 2022, theDepartment of Defense announced the award of the managed care support contract for the TRICARE East Region to Humana Military.[34]
Humana filed a lawsuit in August 2019, alleging that 37 defendants engaged in a “far-reaching conspiracy” to “blatantly fix the price” of generic drugs. This follows a similar smaller lawsuit from October 2018.[35]
In 1987, Humana suedNBC over a story line in the televisionmedical dramaSt. Elsewhere in which the hospital was to be sold to afor-profit medical corporation and renamed "Ecumena", with subsequent changes to the hospital, both positive and negative, emanating from that change. The company claimed that the program infringed on the Humana trademark.[36] Humana failed to block the airing of the show,[36] but was successful at forcing NBC into showing a disclaimer at the beginning of the September 30 episode saying that the drama had no connection whatsoever with Humana.[37]
On May 30, 1996,Linda Peeno, a physician who was contracted to work for Humana for nine months, testified beforeCongress as to the downside ofmanaged care. Peeno said she was effectively rewarded by her employer for causing the death of a patient, because it saved the company a half-million dollars. Peeno stated that she felt the "managed care" model was inherently unethical.[38]
In 1999, season one of Michael Moore's TV seriesThe Awful Truth reported on Humana refusing to pay for a diabetic patient withpancreatic failure needing a transplant. The man's policy stated it covered all of hisdiabetes-related expenses, but another section of the policy stated that it did not cover organ transplants. Moore conducted a fake funeral on the front steps of the Humana building, and three days later Humana changed its policy and authorized the man's treatment.[39]
Michael Moore's 2007 documentarySicko used the video of Linda Peeno's testimony.[40] On June 28, 2007, Humana declared that Peeno was never a Humana "associate" (permanent, full-time employee), but rather a "part-time contractor." Humana disputed portions of her Congressional testimony by saying that because the patient's healthcare plan did not cover heart transplants, denial of coverage was valid.[41]
On September 21, 2009, theU.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services opened an investigation into Humana for sending flyers toMedicare recipients that theAARP characterized as deceptive.[42] The mail was made to appear to contain official information aboutMedicare Advantage and prescription drug benefit information, but instead alleged that core Medicare benefits could be cut by theObama administration's healthcare reform,[43] a claim refuted by John Rother,AARP's executive vice president.[44] Douglas Elmendorf, the head of theCongressional Budget Office (CBO), supported the claim that Medicare benefits could be cut,[45] but his comments were in reference to just one of several congressional bills. CBO estimates of another healthcare reform bill found that changes to premiums would vary.[46] TheCenters for Medicare and Medicaid Services instructed Humana to cease all such mailings to Medicare plan members pending an investigation.[43] HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in a letter to the insurance industry, threatened that bad actors may be excluded from new health insurance markets that were to open in 2014. Senate Republicans pointed out in a letter to Sebelius that a 1997 directive from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services explicitly allowed HMOs to tell members about legislation and urge them to express opinions.[citation needed]
