Boeing Co. has partnered with MemorialCare Health System to offer a new kind of health plan for most of its Southern California employees, who can now receive healthcare directly from MemorialCare, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Boeing employees receive benefits including smaller paycheck deductions for healthcare coverage, no co-pays for primary care office visits and full coverage for generic drug prescriptions.

This is the first direct partnership of its kind in California, with Boeing establishing similar plans in the Seattle area, St. Louis, and Charleston, S.C. Boeing is optimistic this approach can improve care and manage costs for its employees.

“We’re really after improving quality, improving the member experience and controlling cost,” said Jeff White, Boeing’s director of healthcare strategy.

MemorialCare has implemented a similar program for their own employees that focuses on preventative care of chronic conditions.

“For us, it gives the ability to manage the care of all these folks across the entire continuum to work on prevention and wellness and disease management,” said Barry Arbuckle, chief executive of MemorialCare. 

“Direct relationships between employers and health providers could become more common in response to rising health insurance costs,” said Janet Coffman, associate professor of health policy at UC San Francisco. “As providers get more experience with being part of Accountable Care Organizations and managing risk in the sense of setting fees for the employer at levels they think can cover their costs, more of them are going to be interested.”