Humana Inc. - HUM STOCK NEWS

Mays Business School at Texas A&M University and Humana (NYSE: HUM) announced the winners of their 2024 Healthcare Analytics Case Competition. The competition, in its eighth year, attracted over 900 master's-level students from 74 U.S. universities. The University of Louisville team won first place, followed by Boston University and Oklahoma State University teams.

This year's challenge focused on improving Medicare health plan member engagement with Primary Care Providers (PCPs). Participants developed predictive models to identify members unlikely to visit their PCP and proposed strategies to increase engagement. The competition was open to graduate students from accredited master's programs in business, healthcare, or analytics.

AM Best has downgraded Humana Health of Puerto Rico Group's subsidiaries' ratings while affirming ratings for Humana Inc. and most health insurance subsidiaries. The Puerto Rico group's Financial Strength Rating was lowered to B+ from B++ with a negative outlook, following significant operating losses since 2023. The downgrade reflects weakening risk-adjusted capitalization and substantial operating losses, particularly in Medicare Advantage operations.

For Humana's main health subsidiaries, AM Best affirmed an A (Excellent) rating with stable outlook. However, the group faces challenges in its Medicare Advantage business due to increased medical costs and regulatory factors affecting payment rates and Star Ratings. Despite these pressures, Humana maintains strong market position and diversification through its CenterWell segment.

Humana (NYSE: HUM) announced that Celeste Mellet will succeed Susan Diamond as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), effective January 11, 2025. Diamond is stepping down after an 18-year career at Humana, including over three years as CFO. She will continue serving in an advisory role through the end of 2025 to ensure a smooth transition. Diamond's contributions included leadership across Medicare, Home Solutions and finance teams, notably helping navigate through COVID-19 and dynamic utilization trends.

Humana (NYSE: HUM) has appointed Michelle O'Hara as Chief Human Resources Officer, effective January 1, 2025. O'Hara will manage enterprise talent strategy and people programs for Humana's 63,000+ employees, reporting to CEO Jim Rechtin. She succeeds Tim Huval, who will retire end of 2024 after 12 years with the company. O'Hara brings 20+ years of HR leadership experience, most recently as EVP and CHRO at SAIC, where she led significant improvements in workplace culture, talent acquisition, retention, and diversity during periods of rapid growth.

Humana (NYSE: HUM) has earned recognition from both Military Times and Military Friendly® for its veteran employment initiatives. The company ranked #14 in Military Times' Healthcare category for its 2024 Best for Vets: Employers list. Additionally, Humana received the 'Gold' designation in Military Friendly's large company category for 2025, along with recognition in specialty categories including Military Spouse-Friendly Employer and Military Friendly Brand.

Since launching its Veteran Hiring Initiative in 2011, Humana has hired approximately 6,000 veterans and military spouses. The company has renewed this initiative with a commitment to hire 2,000 more military-connected employees by 2032, targeting retention rates of 75% in the first year and 90% for years 2-5 of employment.

Humana (NYSE: HUM) and Evolent Health (NYSE: EVH) have expanded their strategic medical oncology partnership to streamline prior authorization processes for radiation and surgical oncology services. The collaboration aims to expedite approval requests and improve patient access to care through Evolent's advanced technology platform. Under the expanded partnership, Evolent will serve as Humana's designated utilization management and pathway vendor for radiation and surgical oncology services.

The platform enables providers to access up-to-date therapy choices, submit prior authorization requests in minutes, and receive approvals in seconds, reducing administrative burdens while ensuring CMS compliance.

Humana reported Q3 2024 earnings with GAAP EPS of $3.98 and Adjusted EPS of $4.16. The company updated its full-year 2024 guidance to 'at least $12.89' on a GAAP basis and 'at least $16.00' on an Adjusted basis. The Insurance segment benefit ratio is affirmed at approximately 90%. Medicare Advantage membership growth projection for 2024 has been raised by 40,000 to approximately 265,000 members, representing about 5% growth. Q3 consolidated revenues reached $29.4 billion, with benefits expense ratio at 89.9% and operating cost ratio at 11.5%.

Humana (NYSE: HUM) has announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.885 per share. The dividend will be payable on January 31, 2025 to stockholders of record as of December 31, 2024. Humana provides insurance services and CenterWell health care services, focusing on delivering care to people with Medicare, Medicaid, families, individuals, military service personnel, and communities.

Humana and Longevity Health have announced an expanded agreement to offer Humana Together in Health, a Medicare Advantage Institutional Special Needs Plan (I-SNP), to eligible residents of long-term care facilities in eight additional states starting in 2025. The plan, currently available in five states, will expand to Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Mexico, Tennessee, Washington, and West Virginia. The plans include dental, vision, hearing benefits, transportation services, care manager support, and new music therapy sessions for eligible members with chronic conditions. Longevity Health's value-based care model aims to improve clinical outcomes and provide patient-centered healthcare.