Anthem launches Carelon, Wellpoint ahead of Elevance Health rebrand
By Paige Minemyer / June 15, 2022
Anthem will officially become Elevance Health on June 28, and, as part of its corporate rebrand, it's also launching new brands for two of its subsidiaries.
The insurer will consolidate its healthcare services businesses under one umbrella, called Carelon. Carelon is a combination of the word "care" with the suffix "lon," which means full or complete, representing the company's ambition to offer an end-to-end care experience.
Carelon will include Anthem's in-house pharmacy benefit manager Ingenio Rx as well as recent acquisitions such as Beacon Health Options, a behavioral health provider, and myNEXUS, a home healthcare company. Carelon will serve 1 in 3 people in the U.S., according to the announcement.
"It's exciting for us because it's a real representation of the company stepping beyond being only in the payer space," Pete Haytaian, executive vice president of Anthem and president of Carelon, told Fierce Healthcare.
For example, if a patient with diabetes is struggling to maintain adherence to their medications, that issue can be identified and addressed by the appropriate clinical team while care managers connect the patient with other services that may benefit them, such as behavioral health, he said.
It also allows the company to bring digital solutions into the fold and ensure it's connecting with members in a way that works for them, Haytaian said.
"It's easy to say that," he said. "To actually execute on that requires a lot of connectivity from a systems perspective."
In addition to Carelon, Anthem will unify its Medicare, Medicaid and commercial plans in certain markets under the new Wellpoint brand. The company's affiliated Anthem Blue Cross and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans will not be impacted by the change.
Anthem intends to update the branding for the Wellpoint plans over the next several years.
“Unifying many of our non-Blue Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial health plans under one brand helps consumers, care providers, and the healthcare industry better understand how our organization works together to deliver our distinct set of products and services that address the health and wellbeing of those we serve,” Anthem CEO Gail Boudreaux said in a statement.
Anthem will celebrate its rebrand by ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange on June 28 and will begin trading under the new ticker "ELV" as of that morning.