Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Iowa City-based University of Iowa Health System are introducing a joint venture to offer health insurance in four Iowa counties, according to the Quad-City Times.
The health plan will be for sale to individuals and small groups both on and off the Affordable Care Act exchange for 2017, marking the first year Wellmark will be on the exchange.
The joint venture brings together the state's largest insurer, the university health system and the University of Iowa Health Alliance, a partnership of healthcare providers that includes Davenport, Iowa-based Genesis Health System, according to the report.
Officials say the partnership's new company, Wellmark Synergy Health, won't offer a broad network of providers, but will instead deliver a more coordinated experience through the ability to share data and patient information that is aimed at better managing populations.
According to Tom Newton, vice president for network engagement at Wellmark, Wellmark Synergy Health intends to expand beyond the four counties demarcated by the new health plan in the future, the Quad-City Times reported.