Frisco-based Healthcare Highways, the insurance company focused on offering health plans based on high-performance networks, is expanding to Houston. The company will add the Memorial Hermann Health System and HCA Houston Healthcare as members in their network in Houston.
“We built a health plan for Houston with Houston employers in mind, so employers in Houston are unbound by the broad network contract limitations inherent in traditional networks,” said Michael G. Wilson, CEO of Healthcare Highways via release. “Bringing a new health plan like Healthcare Highways to Houston will create competition among the health plans which will lower employers’ costs. We’re looking forward to assisting Houston employers by taking the healthcare industry off cruise control and disrupting the Houston marketplace by utilizing our forward-thinking approach.”
Healthcare Highways chooses network partners based on quality outcomes and appropriateness of care in order to reduce cost for patients, and already operates in North, East, and Central Texas as well as Louisiana and Oklahoma. Memorial Hermann nearly merged with Baylor Scott and White this year to form one of the largest healthcare networks in the country, and has 17 hospitals and hundreds of other sites in the greater Houston area. HCA Houston Healthcare includes 14 total hospitals and dozens of other care locations.
“As part of our efforts to expand access to health care to individuals across Greater Houston, we are pleased to have been selected as part of Healthcare Highways’ high-performance network,” said Brian Dean, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Memorial Hermann via release. “This announcement reflects our overarching commitment to deliver cost-effective care to our community while achieving exceptional outcomes for the people who entrust us with their care.”
“We look forward to a longstanding partnership with Healthcare Highways and providing only the best in care to Houstonians,” said Troy Villarreal, President, HCA Houston Healthcare. “Our comprehensive network complements their strategy and we look forward to continuing to serve our patients and our communities.”
