CHA Health is a Kentucky-based health care provider serving employers in Kentucky. The majority shareholder in the company is the University of Kentucky. It is an HMO that focuses on providing quality health care at affordable prices. It aims to promote prevention of illness as well as care.

CHA Health was founded in 1991. Originally, it was a provider network that was established by a group of Kentucky hospitals to provide an integrated health care delivery network. That network contracted with self-funded and managed care organizations. In 1995, the network also became a health insurer. Today, CHA Health is a Managed Care Organization (MCO) and a provider network. It provides a variety of plans that are supported by a dedicated customer service team. There are over 190,000 commercial members, 15,000 providers, and 96,000 individual members in the network.

CHA Health Benefit Programs

CHA Health offers a variety of specialized programs that are designed to improve the quality of care while lowering costs. Some of the available benefits include:

• Prescription benefits that focus on ways to save money on prescription drugs. There is also a program for obtaining prescription drugs through the mail.
  
  
• A website that enables members to monitor their records.
  
  
• Assist America, a program that allows members to obtain emergency medical services worldwide.

Three Typical CHA Health Programs

• Nurse 411 - This program enables members to obtain quick medical advice over the telephone. The service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It helps reduce costs by resolving medical problems over the phone that may not require an office visit.
  
  
• Healthy Heart - This program focuses on early detection and improved treatment for coronary heart disease.
  
  
• Healthy Horizons - This program focuses on meeting the needs of cancer patients and their families. Cancer patients are assigned a care manager who oversees all aspects of the cancer treatment. The care manager focuses especially on providing emotional support and education.

Other programs offered through CHA Health promote smoking cessation, give advice to pregnant women, and offer assistance to those with chronic respiratory diseases.

CHA Health received a merit award from the World Wide Web Health Awards in 2003. The company has received financial ratings from Fitch Ratings that put CHA Health in the top 12 percent of medium-sized HMOs in the nation. In January 2006, it was announced that Humana would be acquiring CHA Health.