Lantern Specialty Care Company and Primary Care Provider Marathon Health introduced a new partnership Thursday that aims to reduce spending on specialty care for employers.
Based in Dallas, Texas Lantern directs health plan members and self-insured employers to the best local providers for surgery, cancer treatment, infusion care or other medical needs. Health of marathon runnersmeanwhile, partners with employers and union plan sponsors to offer in-person and virtual primary care.
Through this new partnership, Marathon employer customers who do not currently offer Lantern’s specialty care benefit can purchase it directly through Marathon. This simplifies the contracting process and helps integrate primary care with specialty care, according to the companies.
Marathon providers can identify members who need specialized care and refer them to Lantern. Lantern Care attorneys can then contact the member and assist with specialist selection, care coordination, and recovery support. The partnership is initially focused on orthopedic surgery, which is one of the top two cost drivers for employers.
“Having worked in the world of specialty and acute care, where the downstream costs and consequences of fragmented care are most visible, I can tell you that primary care is the biggest lever we have,” Chris Pricco, CEO of Marathon Health, said in a statement. “When you integrate it with specialty care, you’re not just reducing costs. You’re changing the trajectory of a person’s health. That’s what we’ve built for employers, and we’re honored to partner with Lantern to accelerate that impact.”
This partnership began as a pilot project, which found higher engagement and buy-in than Lantern referrals from other locations. For example, Marathon referrals resulted in a 47% increase in completed or avoided surgeries. Additionally, employers experienced an average savings of 53% compared to in-network rates for necessary procedures.
The Colorado Employer Benefit Trust was a pilot participant and said the partnership provided great value.
“This pilot demonstrated how better coordination among our existing benefits ecosystem partners can help more members access appropriate care, improve adherence, and create measurable value,” said Joe Deba, CEBT Trust Trustee Director. “Marathon Health brings so much value to CEBT members beyond its high-quality care and has embraced its role in helping members navigate the complex healthcare system and better understand what benefits are most relevant to them, including Lantern.
By launching this partnership, the companies are ultimately seeking to facilitate access to care for members, according to John Zutter, CEO of Lantern.
“When benefits don’t talk to each other, the patient often finds themselves stuck in the middle,” he said in an email. “A primary care provider can give them a list of specialists to contact, and then they’re on their own. Through this partnership, primary care providers are able to not only help the member understand a valuable benefit available to them, but also help them access that benefit. Without this connectivity, a member might not even know they have access to a program like Lantern that helps them find high-quality specialists and save money as well.”
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