Humana and AMC Health, a leading provider of end-to-end telehealth solutions, will partner on a telehealth pilot to improve congestive heart failure (CHF) outcomes.

Over the course of the nine-month Humana Cares Heart Failure Remote Monitoring Program, AMC Health will provide in-home monitoring solutions and services to help 450 Humana Medicare Advantage members in Ohio suffering from CHF better manage their conditions and adhere to their care plans. The remote patient monitoring solutions include Bluetooth-enabled scales and blood pressure monitors, which will be used in conjunction with a cellular modem, and Interactive Voice Response technology.

“With AMC Health’s assistance, we’ll identify our members most at risk and whose conditions are deteriorating in an effort to reduce readmissions and mortality, and prevent unnecessary emergency department visits,” said Humana Cares / SeniorBridge President Eric C. Rackow, M.D. “We’re confident that by supplementing the existing efforts of our care managers with AMC Health’s remote patient monitoring solutions, we’ll be successful in influencing our members to modify unhealthy behaviors and comply with treatment regimens, which will in turn improve their quality of life.”

Humana Cares / SeniorBridge, Humana’s national chronic care management division, supports more than 300,000 individuals who have chronic conditions, struggle with daily activities and are frequently hospitalized, as well as their family members and caregivers.

Under the agreement, AMC Health will deliver the technology, logistics, and clinical support services (specifically for CHF) for the Remote Monitoring Program and capture symptom and biometric information such as daily blood pressure, pulse and body weight.

Humana Cares / Senior Bridge care managers will work in conjunction with AMC Health nurses to analyze the information in near real time against nationally accepted CHF standards of care. If a member’s weight or blood pressure is outside normal parameters, AMC Health will assess symptom and behavior information via an automated interactive voice response telephone process. Nurses will provide coaching and education and arrange for an appointment with the individual’s physician if further intervention is needed.

CHF affects approximately 5.7 million people in the United States, contributing to more than 280,000 deaths annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A study published earlier this year in The Journal of the American Medical Association found that 24.8 percent of Medicare patients admitted for heart failure were readmitted within 30 days after discharge. Poor care transitions, exercise activity, diet and adherence to treatment plan are the leading causes of those readmissions, diminishing the quality of life and life expectancy for people with CHF.

“We focus on delivering proven telehealth solutions and actionable analytics that can make a real difference in monitoring and preventing the onset of complications among members with chronic health issues,” said Nesim Bildirici, president and CEO of AMC Health. “Humana is at the forefront of leveraging telehealth technology to transform clinical and financial outcomes. We look forward to working with them to set the standard of excellence for chronic care management.”

Chef Patrick Roney and Sharon Weiss prepare a healthier version of a family recipe for a noodle dish.

​This is not your mother’s mac ‘n cheese.

If you’re like Sharon Weiss, a recipe from your mother is a kind of heirloom, its ingredients handwritten in fading cursive on an index card that endures 30 years after her mother passed away. Among the items listed on Weiss’ mother’s recipe for noodle kugel:

• 1 lb. noodles
• 2 sticks unsalted margarine
• 6 eggs
•  ¾ cup sugar

Weiss recently prepared the dish, which is similar to macaroni and cheese, for the Humana Recipe Makeover Challenge presented by HumanaVitality. During the cooking, she said, “I felt like Mom was in the kitchen with me.” Her mom would have been surprised to see what happened next, as the chef de cuisine from The Oak Room, the only AAA Five-Diamond restaurant in Kentucky, stood in front of an audience at a Humana Guidance Center in Louisville and adapted that recipe with healthier ingredients for a TV cooking show.

Humana and HumanaVitality sponsored a special edition of Secrets of Bluegrass Chefs Showdown to promote the idea that traditional family recipes like macaroni and cheese, lasagna or shrimp and grits can be prepared in a way that’s consistent with the goal of lifelong well-being. The taping took place during the grand re-opening of a Humana Guidance Center in southeast Louisville and spotlighted HumanaVitality’s Vitality HealthyFood, a first-of-its-kind partnership with Walmart offering eligible members 5% savings on Great For You™ healthier foods. (See the Notes section below for more details.)

Chef Patrick Roney remade Weiss’ family recipe and said, “I wanted to keep the comfort factor and (have the dish) be substantial, but cut fat and calories.” He used pasta made from quinoa (a type of seed that is higher in fiber and protein than traditional white flour) and replaced the traditional cheese with goat ricotta. Roney said all the ingredients were locally produced and that altogether his mac ‘n cheese-style makeover probably contained “about one-third the calories” of Weiss’ original. Roney’s advice for cooks trying to adapt their recipes: “Elevate your protein levels and use lean, healthy proteins. Experiment. Never sacrifice flavor.”

Dr. Tom Van Gilder, Humana’s National Medical Director for Wellness, spoke to the audience of mostly seniors, reminding them that it’s possible to preserve the tradition of the family meal without sacrificing health. “Start with foods that you love and examine what your health needs are. Pay attention to portion size, as well as ingredients.”

Part of the message is that cooking evolves because of changing technology, tastes and other factors. “Your grandmother didn’t have quinoa or greek yogurt,” said Zach Everson, editor of the food website Eater Louisville and one of the judges for the Humana Recipe Makeover Challenge. “And you have to look at what your heritage is (besides food). Is it diabetes? Heart disease? Strokes?” Food lovers and chefs are trying to find ways to balance comfort food and healthy eating and some are making progress. Just from tasting the foods prepared for the Humana Recipe Makeover Challenge, Everson said, “I would not have suspected that these dishes were on the lighter side.”

Weiss called Roney’s remake of her mother’s recipe, “Excellent. I will try to make this at home. I learned a lot today.” And what would her mother say? “She would be so excited.”

The episode of Secrets of Bluegrass Chefs Showdown featuring the Humana Recipe Makeover Challenge presented by HumanaVitality will air in Louisville and Lexington starting July 14. Chef Roney’s macaroni and cheese recipe featuring Vitality HealthyFood’s Great For You™ products is below:

Mac and Cheese – 7 Great For You products
Ingredients:

• 2 cup cooked quinoa pasta
• 2 cup goat ricotta (room temp)
• 1 ea egg (room temp)
• 5 ea egg whites (room temp)
• 1 cup parmesan cheese (shredded)
• 1 cup morel mushrooms (sliced and blanched)
• 1 cup English peas (blanched)
  (Opt) fresh herbs
  (Opt) salt and pepper

Great For You Products to Incorporate:

• GV Cage Free Brown Eggs, Product # 78742112110
• Mushrooms Whole 8 oz, Product # 50091120080
• GV Steamable Sweet Peas 12 oz, Product # 78742083690
• Parsley, Product # 48990
• Basil, Product # 43222200110
• Chunk light tuna in water 12oz, Product # 78742082750
  Egg white 16 oz, Product # 78742118190

Procedure:
1. Wisk egg whites until medium peaks form.
2. In a food processor or mixer, beat the yolk into the goat cheese until it is very smooth. Add the parmesan and beat just until incorporated
3. In a large bowl, fold together the egg whites and the cheese. Add pasta, mushrooms and peas and fold until well incorporated. At this time you may add your special touches (ie. Tuna, truffles, herbs, seasonings)
4. Spray or coat a muffin tin with your favorite unsaturated oil or spray.
5. Fill muffin tins ¾ full and bake at 350 for 20 min. (You can place the muffin tin in a warm water bath in the oven for smoother results. Add 10 min to cooking time)
6. Let them rest for 10 min. Run a knife around the outside and flip them out.
7. You can refrigerate them for up to 2 days but they will lose some volume. They are best warm from the oven.

NOTES
• HumanaVitality members must have Bronze Vitality Status or higher and must be 18 years of age or older to be eligible to participate in the Vitality HealthyFood program. The Vitality HealthyFood program is not available to all HumanaVitality members and is only available with certain plans or products offered by Humana.
• The 5% savings will be applied to that member’s Vitality HealthyFoodShopping Card within 5-7 business days. Once applied, the savings may be used on any future purchase made at Walmart where gift cards are accepted.
• For a listing of all qualifying Great For You healthier foods, visit the Vitality HealthyFood page on HumanaVitality.com or check Walmart.com.
• The Vitality HealthyFood program is only available at Walmart Neighborhood Markets and Walmart retail stores. Sam’s Club stores and Walmart.com are excluded from the Vitality HealthyFood program.

Humana associates walked more than 5 billion steps during the 2012 100-Day Dash competition. (Photo by Lisa Huber)

Humana associates around the country are putting on their pedometers and steppin’ out in style today – and for the next 100 days – as part of the company’s second annual 100-Day Dash, a friendly competition designed to encourage all Humana associates to move more and have fun doing it. It’s open to all associates, and associates can register as individuals or join a team.

During last year’s inaugural Dash, Humana associates made great strides in their quest to improve their health and well-being:

• Nearly 12,000 Humana associates registered for the Dash.
•  Associates walked more than 5 billion steps, the equivalent of 112 times around the Earth and averaged 8,300 steps a day during the Dash.
•  One in every seven associates made it into the “high-steppers club,” which required achieving 10,000 steps for at least 50 days during the competition.

“I’m sure I won’t outstep all of our associates, but I’m determined to take more steps than last year. This event is all about inspiring health, and it works,” said Bruce Broussard, Humana’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “During last year’s competition I truly enjoyed hearing the inspirational associate stories: impressive weight loss, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, improving blood pressure, and other accomplishments. I can’t wait to see what our associates are able to achieve in this year’s Dash.”

Humana associates found great ways to rethink their daily routines during last year’s Dash, from “Wellness Wednesday Walks” to “DASH” mobs, where large groups of associates gathered for walks. Dash participants set goals and worked with friends to achieve them, all while enjoying a positive impact on their health and well-being.

Marcus Witek, Process Manager for Provider Engagement at Humana, used the competition to significantly improve his health and well-being. “I really needed to make some dietary and exercise changes, and the Dash became a great way for me to do so,” said Witek. “I set goals to be in a higher tier each week among the Dash participants. Not only did I lose 48 pounds during the Dash, I also finished 31st overall.”

The 100-Day Dash competition runs from Monday, June 3, 2013 through Tuesday, September 10, 2013.

For more details, read our news release.

The Humana Foundation will give $250,000 to help those affected by the devastating tornado in Moore, Okla.

In the wake of this week’s devastating tornado in Moore, Okla., the Humana Foundation is making a combined contribution of up to $250,000 to the American Red Cross and the Oklahoma City Community Foundation.

The American Red Cross of Central Oklahoma will receive $100,000 to address immediate and ongoing needs related to the disaster. The Foundation also will match up to $50,000 in gifts from Humana associates to the American Red Cross of Central Oklahoma. The Oklahoma City Community Foundation will receive $100,000 to support nonprofits that focus on the longer-term rebuilding efforts.

The toll from the tornado, one of the most catastrophic in Oklahoma’s history, is stunning. Twenty-four people, including 10 children, were killed; hundreds were injured; and blocks of the town of Moore were flattened.

“Humana associates stand with the people of Oklahoma as they take on the emotionally wrenching job of recovering after this terrible storm,” said Bruce Broussard, Humana’s President and CEO.  “We hope this gift will ease the suffering of the affected families and help them meet their needs for shelter, food and medical supplies.”

A veteran attends a ceremony honoring the military for the sacrifices all have made. (Photo by Lisa Huber)

On Memorial Day, we celebrate and honor members of the military for the sacrifices they have made for all of us. But Memorial Day can be tough for veterans, particularly those who’ve served in combat. The tributes and ceremonies bring back painful memories for veterans, or revive troubling questions about why they came home and others didn’t. Humana talked to three of its associates, who are veterans, about the holiday and what it means to them. Their stories are below.

Jimmy Phillips
Jimmy Phillips is Director of Veterans Outreach for Humana Government Business. In March 2003, Phillips was a Naval officer supervising the launch of Tomahawk missiles into Iraq aboard the USS Cape St. George. During the war, Phillips’ ship was fired upon and there were concerns about mines and SCUD missiles. Still, he says, “Ground forces experienced a different, more face-to-face threat than we did.”

Phillips and other veterans discover that coming home is a kind of Catch-22: you either return with wounds and scars or with questions about why you didn’t when others did.

“You get a group of veterans together, doesn’t matter where or when they served,” says Phillips, “there’s always a sense of guilt if you had easier duty, or even just for the fact that you made it home when other guys didn’t.”

Mike Ochs
Mike Ochs is a Humana IT Business Consultant. He served two tours in Iraq with the Army National Guard and served as an armor crewman, as well as in the military police and intelligence fields. Ochs says on Memorial Day, he knows he’ll be thinking of Lt. Colonel Michael McLaughlin.

McLaughlin and Ochs, then a staff sergeant, butted heads in their first meetings because of their different approaches to information gathering and intelligence efforts. Eventually they earned each other’s respect and started working well together. “From him, I learned so much about how to effectively communicate with people in high leadership positions,” Ochs says. “It helps me to this day.”

McLaughlin visited a glass factory in Anbar province as part of the Army’s efforts to recruit for the Iraqi police force. “We thought it was safe. We had barriers and overlapping security,” Ochs says. A suicide bomber snuck in and the explosion sent shrapnel flying. “A piece struck the Lt. Colonel in the back of the neck as he was talking to our Brigade Commander. He kept talking for a few minutes more and then just fell over.” One other American and 80 Iraqis died along with McLaughlin in that attack.

Seven years later, Ochs says, “I pray for him every Sunday at church, and other times, too. He was a good man. Sometimes I wonder, ‘why did it have to be this way?’”

Gregg Spieth
Humana account executive Gregg Spieth has asked that question countless times since the day in 1969 when Billy Northington called his name.
The two men served together in Vietnam in the 1st Battalion 9th Marines, a unit known for sustaining casualties so heavy it was nicknamed “The Walking Dead.” Their unit was moving along a dirt road under jungle canopy one day when, “bullets started coming down from the trees,” Spieth recalls. “I fell on my back and started firing upward. I heard Billy yell, ‘Gregg, Gregg! Help me!’”

When the firefight ended, Spieth ran to his friend, but it was too late. Spieth has relived that day, that moment, over and over, reaching a conclusion common among combat veterans: “I didn’t do everything possible to save him. I should have been the one who was carried back.” He struggled with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder for years, costing him jobs, relationships and contributing to a 1997 heart attack that changed his perspective.

“I learned to let go of grief,” he says. “Life is for loving.”

“Memorial Day,” Spieth says, “is a quiet, private time for me.” He says the holiday is important, but perhaps more for civilians than soldiers, who need no prompting to remember their comrades.

Spieth no longer asks why things worked out the way they did for himself or any other soldiers. He says that some questions have no answers.

Support for veterans, military service members and their families
Humana is committed to providing job opportunities for our nation’s veterans. For more information about and Humana’s Veterans Initiative, click here.

Humana will open a mail-order pharmacy facility in Irving, Texas. Similar operations are currently located in Arizona and Cincinnati. (Photo by Lisa Huber)

Humana will open a RightSource® mail-order pharmacy call center and support operation in Irving, Texas, in August, bringing more than 620 new jobs to the area over the next three years.

RightSource is Humana’s pharmacy management company providing mail-order delivery to members’ homes. The convenience of mail-order delivery and the lower cost of obtaining drugs by mail-order pharmacy have created tremendous demand for RightSource’s services. Humana RightSource, which has similar operations in Arizona and Ohio, serves 1.5 million people and filled nearly 20 million scripts in 2012, making it one of the nation’s largest mail-order pharmacies.

“The continuing growth of Humana’s mail-order pharmacy business shows us that we are improving our members’ health-care experience by making prescriptions more affordable,” said William Fleming, Pharm.D., President of Humana Pharmacy Solutions. “The opening of this new front-end operations facility is a testament to our commitment to provide outstanding service to our customers and a credit to the quality of the Irving-area workforce and excellent business climate.”

Positions to be hired will include pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, customer service representatives, and data-entry clerks. For information about employment opportunities at the Irving facility, 2001 W. John Carpenter Freeway, please visit careers.humana.com.

With its subsidiary companies Concentra and LifeSynch, and the addition of the employees being hired at the RightSource facility, Humana will have more than 2,500 employees in North Texas.

To learn more, read our news release.

A selection of healthful foods are made available to associates in the Humana cafeterias.

Two national organizations have given Humana top honors for the company’s work to promote and advance the well-being of its associates.

Humana recently received the American Heart Association’s Fit Friendly Worksite Platinum award for the second year in a row. The award is given to employers that, according to the AHA, “go above and beyond when it comes to their employees’ health” by providing walking and other fitness opportunities as well as healthy-eating options and creating a “culture of wellness.” The platinum distinction is the highest–level award of this type given by the AHA.

“It’s critical for companies to offer employees a wide variety of healthy lifestyle options,” said Ashley Mason, Heart Walk Director for the American Heart Association. “We are pleased to recognize Humana for its dedication to helping employees lead healthy and active lives.”

Humana also recently won the prestigious Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles (BEHL) – Platinum award from the National Business Group on Health. Winning the BEHL’s top prize means that Humana’s associate well-being initiatives are considered examples of best practices and worthy of emulation by other top employers. The National Business Group on Health works to promote workplace wellness as a way to fight rising health care costs and improve economic productivity.

“At Humana, our pursuit of well-being is much more than an initiative; it is our dream for the customers we serve, as well as for ourselves,” said Human Resources Vice President Tim State. “Every day, teammates across our company are working toward their personal health and well-being goals, and inspiring each other throughout the journey. Our energy and momentum are becoming increasingly visible to the outside world, as shown by this recognition. We can all take pride in these signs that we’re on the right path to bringing our dream to life.”

For more than 100 years, The Anti-Cruelty Society of Chicago has provided stray dogs and cats with love, care and support. Thanks to a grant from The Humana Foundation, the organization has a vital new tool in its efforts to help animals: technology.

“This Humana grant has transformed everything we do to help animals,” says Robyn Barbiers, President of The Anti-Cruelty Society.  In the past, the Society didn’t have the technological resources to keep track of the animals. For example, “We have to do a daily count. And when you have 458 cats and 91 dogs on any one day, which is what we have today, you need a computer,” she says.

The Anti-Cruelty Society received a $100,000 Humana Communities Benefit grant in 2009 and used the funds to purchase computers and a variety of technology applications. One of those is PetPoint, a Web-based shelter management system that allows the staff to track animals as they move through the system from intake and behavior assessment to medical evaluation and eventually adoption.

The Anti-Cruelty Society, founded in 1899, has an open admission policy for dogs and cats, which means no animal is turned away, and the staff places no time limit on how long an animal can live in the Society’s shelter while waiting to be adopted.

The Humana Communities Benefit grant also helped pay for 30 laptops used for educational outreach, such as an afterschool program designed to teach children to feed and care for animals and treat them with respect.  The Anti-Cruelty Society also purchased computers to use for staff training and education, investigations of animal cruelty and for updating the website (www.anticruelty.org) with pictures of dogs and cats available for adoption.

“Now we can manage our population, we can look at trends, we can run reports,” says Barbiers, “and we couldn’t have done that without Humana’s help.”

Supporting The Anti-Cruelty Society ties in with Humana’s dream of helping people achieve lifelong well-being. As studies have shown, interacting regularly with animals can help people live longer, healthier lives. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pets can help lower blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels; decrease feelings of loneliness and stress; and increase opportunities for exercise, outdoor activities and socialization.

Related links:

• To watch our video about The Anti-Cruelty Society, click here.
• For more information about The Anti-Cruelty Society or to make a donation to the organization, click here.
• Humana grant still benefits nonprofit – 10 years later
• Humana grant helps promote “Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies, Healthy Communities
• Humana grant helps provide A Safe Place for those who need it most
• The Humana Communities Benefit program has awarded more than $1 million to charitable organizations since its inception in Chicago in 2002. In 2012, the program provided grant assistance in Arizona, Austin, Chicago, Greater Cincinnati, Houston, Kansas City, Nashville and New Orleans.

From left to right, Mark Kent, President and CEO of CAC-Florida Medical Centers; Dr. Sonia Michael; Bruce Broussard, Humana President and CEO, and Dr. Andres Restrepo at the CAC-Florida Medical Center in Miami.

Simple, caring, coordinated and convenient. Those are not words typically associated with our nation’s complex and fragmented health-care system, but they are often used to describe CAC-Florida Medical Centers.

The 15 medical centers, all in South and Central Florida, primarily serve Medicare and Medicaid members who will find a broad range of medical services, from primary care to specialty care, as well as dental, vision and pharmacy.

“CAC-Florida Medical Centers are a perfect example of where we see health care moving – to an integrated health delivery model as opposed to treating sickness,” Humana President and CEO Bruce Broussard said during a recent visit to Miami’s CAC Medical Center, which is a subsidiary of Humana. “We want a holistic relationship with our members.”

Dr. Sonia Michael, CAC’s Chief Medical Officer, has seen firsthand how effective the holistic approach can be.

“One of the unique aspects of CAC is the approach we take when treating our patients, who are predominantly seniors,” said Dr. Michael. “We take a step back and look at all aspects of a patient’s life – medical, social, economic and emotional. It’s easy to write a prescription for a patient who has diabetes, but does he or she have the resources to get the food that they need to live a healthier life or can we direct them to community agencies to help with those issues? Are they struggling with depression? It’s not simply about helping them temporarily … it’s about maintaining wellness. We work together on the long-term functionality of our patients and their quality of life.”

Mark Kent, President and CEO of CAC-Florida Medical Centers, is proud of the fact that the centers’ “outstanding level of coordinated service” to seniors and underserved low-income communities has created a model being replicated across the U.S. The centers’ achievements are being recognized by others as well. Last fall, CAC-Florida Medical Centers achieved NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home Certification because of its long-time commitment to high-quality primary and preventive patient care. Under the Patient-Centered Medical Home concept, primary care doctors coordinate all patient care with a team of providers, who systematically track tests and results to better identify patients at risk, and who provide prompt access to care and follow up after visits.

“By doing all of this, over a two-year period, we’ve reduced unnecessary emergency room visits by 57 percent and in-patient admissions by 42 percent across patients in our diabetes program,” Kent said. “The medical home concept, with a focus on primary and preventive care, has always been at the heart of our approach to quality patient care. We’re proud that our medical centers and our primary care physicians have achieved rigorous standards that physician practices must meet in order to attain this significant accomplishment.”

One of the most important services the centers provide is taking the complexity out of the health care system, said Bert Valdes, Chief Operations Officer at CAC-Florida Medical Centers, which Humana acquired in 2005.

“We are unique because we incorporate a multidisciplinary approach that allows seniors to rely on a single organization to manage the whole gamut of care, from routine to complex,” said Valdes. “And it goes beyond the medical needs. Our Wellness and Activities Centers provide an opportunity for CarePlus Health Plans members who may be alone and depressed to interact with people who have similar conditions and develop a support system, a social outlet.”

Valdes said the medical centers have a genuine culture of caring that has been built through many years of providing services to Florida communities.

“We have tremendous tenure among our associates,” he said. “We’ve grown with the communities we serve. In many cases, our associates have known a patient for 15 to 20 years and sometimes their parents or grandparents are patients.”

Valdes said that his best example of the value that the centers offer patients is based on the experience of a senior in his own family who lived alone and showed signs of anxiety and depression as she dealt with diabetes treatment. But he saw positive health and behavior change after she began attending lectures and exercise classes at the Wellness and Activities Center.

“She was persuaded to attend one educational health lecture at the center, then began attending more and more until it became a daily routine,” he said. “In the space of six months, we no longer received calls related to anxiety and other concerns. She developed a support network and even goes grocery shopping with people she met there. It changed her life, and she is a totally different person.”

Through its long-time commitment of providing coordinated, quality care, CAC-Florida Medical Centers are becoming a model for the future of health care.

Fast facts about CAC-Florida Medical Centers:

• 15 multi-specialty medical centers located in South and Central Florida.
• Achieved certification by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) as a level one Physician Practice Connections Patient-Centered Medical Home.
• Diabetes Recognition Program developed by the NCQA and American Diabetes Association recognized CAC-Florida Medical Centers physicians for providing excellent diabetes care
• Staffed by more than 100 primary care physicians and specialists.
• 130 vans provide free transportation for all CarePlus Health Plans members.
• 13 Wellness & Activities Centers that offer educational programs and group activities that focus on healthy aging, socialization and lifestyle enrichment and wellness.
• CAC-Florida Medical Centers opened its doors to Miami-Dade County’s Hispanic population in 1964 under the name Clínica Asociación Cubana.
•  Acquired by Humana in 2005.
•  Most of the 15 centers offer these services in a single location: primary care, preventive care, cardiology, chiropractic, dermatology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, general surgery, gynecology, neurology, ophthalmology, optometry, orthopedic surgery, podiatry, urology, pharmacies, dental offices, and ancillary services (X-rays, ultrasound).

A military Color Guard opened a ceremony last fall at Humana’s Louisville headquarters in which the company was named a finalist for the Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award. (Photo by Lisa Huber)

In August 2011, President Obama challenged U.S. employers to hire 100,000 veterans and/or their spouses by 2013. As part of the Joining Forces initiative, First Lady Michelle Obama announced today at the White House that U.S. businesses have surpassed that goal by hiring or training 290,000 veterans and military spouses and are now committing to hire or train another 435,000 over the next five years.

Humana earlier this year surpassed its goal of hiring 1,000 veterans and military spouses and has pledged to hire 1,000 more.

But, as Michelle Obama noted today, there is still more work to do as 1 million service members will transition out of the military in the next few years. The First Lady challenged every business that has not yet joined the veterans hiring effort to stand up and take action. Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden joined President Obama and the First Lady for the announcement. Attending the event representing Humana were Tim McClain, President, Humana Government and other Businesses, and Josh Galle, an associate who has been focused on Humana’s veteran-hiring initiative.

The nationwide Joining Forces campaign, led by Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, was launched two years ago to rally the nation to support our veterans and military families. To read an article written by the First Lady and Dr. Biden about the need to hire veterans, click here, and to see a video about Tuesday’s event, click here.

Veterans who want to learn more about Humana’s hiring program should visit www.jobs.net/jobs/Humana-Veterans. To learn more about the White House veterans program, go to JoiningForces.gov.

Related links:

• Humana Surpasses Veterans Hiring Commitment and Makes New Pledge to Hire 1,000 Additional Veterans
• Humana is in Top 10 in Military Times’ Best for Vets survey
• Humana associate receives Patriot Award for support of veterans
•  Military Appreciation Day a highlight of 2013 Humana Challenge