Despite ongoing questions about the outlook for its Medicare Advantage business, Humana (NYSE: HUM) plans to invest in the growth of its CenterWell segment.

CenterWell is Humana’s provider services arm, which includes home health, pharmacy and primary care.

“Both CenterWell and Medicaid are important enablers of our long-term strategy,” Humana CEO Jim Rechtin said during the company’s fourth quarter earnings call on Tuesday. “We will be thoughtful in identifying opportunities that make sense in our current environment that allow us to continue to grow our earnings capacity while being prudent with our balance sheet.”

During the call, Humana CFO Celeste Mellet also reiterated that an investment in CenterWell is what’s best for the company’s members.

Humana is one of the largest insurers in the country, and has almost 6 million Medicare Advantage (MA) members in its health plans. The company expects to see an MA membership decline of 550,000, or 10%, this year due to dropping unprofitable plans.

Through CenterWell Home Health, Humana plans to further expand its value-based home care models.

“During 2025, OneHome will continue to pursue novel value-based home health care with the expectation of growing members in some form of value-based home health model by greater than 15% through innovative payment models and additional expansion of our CenterWell partnerships,” Humana stated in a 8-K filing. “These arrangements align incentives between the health plan and the home health provider, driving better coordination, lower cost, and a better experience and health outcomes for the patient.”

In the filing, Humana pointed to OneHome’s value-based model with CenterWell Primary Care

in Florida and Texas last year. Through this collaboration, CenterWell Home Health drove down length of stay.

Humana first acquired OneHome — a home-focused post-acute care organization that operates under a full-risk model — in 2021.

For Q4, Humana revenue checked in at $29.2 billion, compared to $26.4 billion during the same period in 2023.

The company’s CenterWell segment brought in $10 million, compared to $11 million during Q4 2023.
Humana shares dipped Tuesday, although analysts generally noted the company’s quarterly results were good relative to peers, with Medicare Advantage pressures being widespread, Barron’s reported.