Aetna and Sutter Health to launch joint health plan

National insurer Aetna and Sutter Health, a 24-hospital not-for-profit system based in Sacramento, Calif., have struck a deal to launch a health plan designed to lower healthcare costs for employers and their workers.

Starting mid-2018, Sutter and Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna plan to sell coverage to self-insured employers in California’s greater Sacramento, Central Valley and Bay Area communities. The companies will later offer PPO policies to fully insured employers in early 2019.

Aetna insures about 415,000 people in Northern California.

The 50-50 joint venture, in which Sutter and Aetna would focus on using data analytics to identify at-risk patients to treat them sooner, is Aetna’s fifth. An Aetna spokeswoman declined to release any financial terms of the deal.

The insurer has formed similar joint health plans with Allina Health in Minneapolis; Banner Health in Phoenix; Inova Health System in Falls Church, Va.; and Texas Health Resources.