Investor Spotlight: Humana

​What is the vision/mission of your company? 

Our Dream: To help people achieve lifelong well-being.

At Humana, we strive to address whole-person health and are addressing the most crucial needs of our members, which means truly caring about them, understanding what is important to them and finding ways to make it easy for them to live their best life. That’s human care.

Tell us about Humana’s roots to Louisville. 

Humana is a Fortune 100 company and the largest publicly traded company headquartered in Kentucky. Since our company’s founding in 1961, we’ve thrived in our hometown because the city’s culture matches our own – with strong values rooted in integrity, innovation, continuous learning and focused philanthropy. Louisville and its corporate, civic and educational institutions create conditions that allow our 12,000+ employees here to do their best work, providing them the necessary tools, resources and training.

Louisville is an inclusive, diverse and compassionate city, conducive to Humana’s efforts to support education, the arts, civic and cultural institutions, and health and wellness. We’re leading donors to the United Way and Fund for the Arts, both of which have a broad footprint in Louisville. Also, it’s thanks, in part, to the support of this community that Humana has earned a reputation in corporate social responsibility circles as one of the nation’s leading corporate citizens – in Louisville and across the U.S.

How did Humana today come into existence?  

Humana’s story began in 1961, when two young lawyers — David A. Jones and Wendell Cherry – opened Heritage House nursing home in Louisville. The company became the nation’s largest operator of nursing homes, evolved into one of the largest investor-owned hospital systems, and now leverages decades of experience in care delivery and health plan administration to guide people toward their best health.

What is one thing you wish others knew about your company?  

With more than 16 million medical members and 46,000 employees, Humana administers health coverage and provides career opportunities to Military members, veterans and their families. We recently announced plans to hire another 600 veterans and 150 military spouses over the next four years in Kentucky. Humana already employs more than 2,500 veterans and military spouses nationwide. For over 25 years Humana has provided outstanding service to what has grown to 6 million US Military service members, retirees and family members whom we’re privileged to serve in the TRICARE East region. The company was recently named the number one large company Military Friendly® Employer for 2021.

What makes your company different from competitors?  

At Humana, our cultural foundation is aligned to helping members achieve their best health by delivering personalized, simplified, whole-person healthcare experiences. Recognizing healthcare needs continue to evolve for each person, for each family and for each community, Humana continuously creates innovative solutions and resources that help people live their healthiest lives on their terms –when and where they need it. Our employees are at the heart of making this happen and that’s why we are dedicated to building an organization of dynamic talent whose experience and passion center on putting the customer first.

Have you had to pivot strategies over the years? 

Humana has continued to adapt as we learn more about our communities and our members. We discovered how important it is to develop personalized solutions, determining how best to meet the needs of our members. That has meant getting to know our members better in order to connect them to people and organizations who can support them—not only in their clinical needs, but also in their individual health-related social needs, such as getting access to healthy food, helping to connect them socially and addressing their housing needs.

Our clinical operating model has evolved to fully incorporate social determinants of health. Humana associates, especially those who interact with members every day – case managers, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, sales representatives, customer service operators and others – value taking care of the whole person. Many are screening members every day and referring them to appropriate social support resources.  We stepped back and took a hard look at how we worked. We created synergies between our clinical, data, policy, product and research departments to streamline our work, improving the coordination to support members and the physicians and other clinicians who care for them. We applied our learnings in our original seven Bold Goal communities and have grown to 16 designated Bold Goal communities, including the Louisville community.

What makes Louisville a good home for your company?  

Louisville is a wonderful host for creative, nimble and energetic companies, providing a diverse and educated talent pool. In this environment, Humana grew from a single nursing home into one of the nation’s largest investor-owned hospital systems, and now a top provider of health and well-being plans.  Humana has always been an innovator – the world’s second artificial heart transplant was performed at the Humana Heart Institute in 1984 – and a catalyst for Louisville’s health-related economy, the area’s largest business sector.  Louisville is home to hundreds of health-related companies – many of them founded by veterans of Humana – and thousands of health care workers.  Through it all, we’ve relied on our headquarters city for stability and support. In turn, Humana has been an economic engine for Louisville, generating jobs, income and tax revenues, and providing philanthropic and civic leadership. Humana works with hundreds of vendors, and the list is dominated by local firms.

How is the Humana Foundation addressing social determinants of health? 

The Humana Foundation, philanthropic arm of Humana Inc. for the past 39 years, invests its resources to co-create communities where leadership, culture and systems work to improve and sustain positive health outcomes. In 2020 alone, The Humana Foundation invested more than $9 million in Louisville nonprofit partners addressing social determinants of health. One grant making approach The Foundation uses to determine its community investments is the Community Partners Program, an initiative that began in 2018 and has since awarded more than $6 million to nonprofits local to Louisville who address social determinants of health and increase health equity for all in Humana’s corporate hometown. Programs funded by the 2020 Community Partners Program focus on nutrition and food security, shelter, personal safety, healthcare services, built and natural environment, arts and culture, and education and early childhood development. Note: Special consideration for investment is given to organizations addressing the root causes of inequity, collaborative proposals, and initiatives with a strong focus on inclusion, diversity, equity and belonging. This year, The Foundation also considered the consequences of COVID-19 and its negative impact on people of color.

The most vulnerable are disproportionately experiencing the economic and health implications of COVID-19. These challenges are compounding issues many were dealing with before the pandemic, including hunger and financial instability.  Therefore, the Foundation is investing in initiatives like Dare to Care’s School Programs and CASA’s Raising Up: Working with Vulnerable Children for Positive Futures to help children receive healthy food and have the tools necessary to overcome trauma during and after the pandemic. Programs like New Directions Housing Corporation’s Eviction Prevention Program will help create greater financial asset security, especially for those facing furloughs and layoffs during coronavirus quarantine measures.

The Humana Foundation also offered a special incentive to Humana employees in Louisville to help strengthen the city’s response to the impacts of coronavirus – the opportunity to select a local nonprofit for a $10,000 grant. As a result, Backside Learning Center received funding to support its staffing needs and programmatic needs, both of which directly benefit Churchill Downs workers and their families during the COVID-19 health crisis.