Capital Blue Cross and St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network are launching a new health plan option for Lehigh Valley employers.<\/p>\n
The Valley Advantage EPO plan is now available to employers in Lehigh and Northampton counties with more than 100 employees and will be available to companies with fewer than 100 employees starting in 2027. According to a news release from St. Luke\u2019s, the plan will help employers control rising health care expenses.<\/p>\n
An EPO, or exclusive provider organization plan, works by requiring plan members to receive non-emergency care within a specified provider network \u2014 in this case, St. Luke\u2019s \u2014 if they want to be covered. There are usually exceptions, such as when a plan member needs to receive certain complex treatments or the type of provider they need is not within the network.<\/p>\n
Employers who join the Valley Advantage EPO will be able to offer employees simplified access to care across St. Luke\u2019s care network, and referrals will not be required for in-network services. Rates will be lower than Capital\u2019s standard PPO plan. Wellness credits will be offered to eligible businesses with more than 100 employees, according to the news release.<\/p>\n
\u201cCapital Blue Cross and St. Luke\u2019s share a mission to put people first \u2014 delivering exceptional service, expanding access to high-quality care, and strengthening the health of the communities we serve,\u201d said Todd Shamash, president and CEO of Capital Blue Cross. \u201cThis collaboration gives Lehigh Valley employers and their employees confidence they\u2019re getting outstanding care, close to home, at an affordable cost.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Capital Blue Cross and St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network are launching a new health plan option for Lehigh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211455,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,1057,182,139,432],"class_list":["post-211454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-health","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-top-stories-tmc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}