Centivo, an employer-focused healthcare company, is teaming up with primary care company Premise Health to launch a primary care-focused health plan, the companies announced on Wednesday.

Buffalo, New York-based Centivo serves self-funded employers and functions as an alternative to traditional health insurers by offering health plans centered around primary care. Premise Health, based in Brentwood, Tennessee, is a direct healthcare company working with employers, unions and health plans. It offers primary care, pharmacy, behavioral health and more both virtually and onsite.

Through the new plan, which will become available to employers in the 2026 benefits cycle, Premise will provide primary care to members, while Centivo will connect them to a network of specialists. Centivo will also handle the health plan side of things, including processing claims and answering member questions.

“Members will designate a Premise primary care provider as their attributed provider, from whom they will receive a free annual physical and free primary care visits for any concerns throughout the year,” said Ryan Donnelly, senior vice president of strategy and innovation at Premise Health, in an email. “If a member needs to see a specialist for non-urgent care, like a recommended screening, their designated primary care provider will refer them through a high-value contracted network.”

The companies chose to partner with one another because they have shared beliefs, including that primary care should be “the center of the healthcare experience,” said Ashok Subramanian, CEO of Centivo.

“Additionally, we had mutual customers who were successfully using both of our services, and we wanted to continue replicating that success for more businesses,” Subramanian said in an email. “Employers and their employees are looking for new solutions to better their health benefits, and this partnership provides a strategic response to that demand for change.”

The financial details of the partnership are confidential, however, Subramanian noted.

The partnership comes as more employers consider alternative health plan options to manage healthcare costs, according to Mercer. In a recent survey, Mercer showed that over a third of large employers are using high-performance network plans or other alternative medical plans, while 29% are considering them in the near term.

By offering this new health plan, Premise and Centivo ultimately aim to encourage more people to engage in primary care.

“The employers we work with have told us they need an alternative to traditional health plans and want to elevate the role of primary care,” Donnelly said. “Through this partnership, Premise and Centivo are giving employers the ability to offer more and better benefits options, and reduce healthcare costs, resulting in more high-quality, affordable choices for employees.”

Other companies that have a focus on primary care are Included Health, HealthTap and Marathon Health.

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