South African healthcare group Discovery Holdings (DSY) on Sunday announced two joint ventures that give its US subsidiary, Destiny Health, mainstream access to the world’s largest healthcare market.
Discovery said in a statement that the move has already created 40 jobs at Discovery’s head office in Johannesburg and is expected to create at least 300 more in South Africa within the next three years.
The joint ventures are in two categories – a nationwide joint venture with Guardian Life, America’s fourth-largest mutual insurance company; and a regional joint venture giving Destiny specific healthcare expertise and access to a large local market with Tufts Health Plan, which operates in the state of Massachusetts.
The agreements with both companies flow from opportunities created by the current trend towards consumerism in the US healthcare market, combined with Discovery’s consumer-driven health care solutions, Discovery said.
Discovery Health has a 10-year track record, with more than 4 million life-years of experience in the risk management, product design and technological support required in the delivery of Comprehensive Consumer Driven Healthcare(tm) plans. This is now firmly embedded within Destiny Health, in Illinois, it said.
The joint venture with Guardian gives Destiny a national distribution footprint in the large US market, as well as immediate brand and financial credibility.
With 5 500 employees, 2 700 financial representatives and 100 agencies nationwide, Guardian and its subsidiaries provide clients with life, disability, health and dental insurance as well as retirement and investment products.
The Destiny Health Plan will be sold into the existing Guardian client base and to new prospects, and will carry the Guardian brand.
The joint venture with Tufts Health Plan gives Destiny state-of-the-art medical management expertise and intellectual credibility, the result of nearly 20 years of growth and innovation.
The Tufts Health Plan has been voted the best in member satisfaction for seven straight years in the annual JD Powers & Associates’ Boston consumer survey.
Tufts Health Plan will offer its Destiny-administered Comprehensive Consumer Driven Healthcare(tm) plan to its existing client base of over 900 000 members under the Tufts Health Plan underpinned by the “powered by Destiny Health” signature.
“We believe that Discovery’s 10-year track record in delivering Comprehensive Consumer Driven Healthcare(tm) plans, and the experience and infrastructure we’ve built in the US through Destiny Health, have created a unique platform for future growth,” said Discovery CEO Adrian Gore.
Destiny will share the costs of expansion into the US market with its joint-venture partners, as well as the profits that result. In addition, Destiny will be paid a management fee for the operational management of the products.
Gore said he expects Destiny to start contributing meaningfully to Discovery’s earnings within the next 18 to 24 months. – I-Net Bridge