A primary care organization and specialty care platform have announced a partnership to help employers and labor organizations reduce specialty care spend. The approach connects Marathon Health's advanced primary care model to Lantern's specialty care platform designed to offer better quality at lower costs.

Dallas-based Lantern supports 12 million members and over 1,000 employers nationwide. Indianapolis-based Marathon has 700 health centers and works with more than 600 employers and union-sponsored clients.

Through the integration, Marathon providers identify members who need to see a specialist and initiate referrals through established clinical workflows.

Lantern Care Advocates reach out to the member and guide them through specialist selection, care coordination, and recovery support, with clinical information shared with Marathon for ongoing support and closed-loop post-surgical coordination.

The solution builds on Marathon's specialty care navigation capabilities, which include in-clinic specialty eConsults and data-driven, high-value referrals supported end-to-end.

The partners say they share a belief that the highest-value care isn't simply better surgery — it's supporting the most appropriate treatment, including avoiding unnecessary procedures. Marathon and Lantern say they create a trusted referral bridge between the primary care provider who knows the member and a specialty network of excellence vetted for high quality and experience standards.

Lantern said a pilot project focused on orthopedic and other surgeries demonstrated measurable improvements to engagement and adherence when compared to Lantern referrals from other sources:
• Trusted provider channel supports care navigation: Those in the pilot saw a 37%-100% increase in referrals to Lantern
• Better care navigation improves care adherence and outcomes: Referrals from Marathon drove 47% increase in completed or avoided surgery
• More completed or avoided surgeries lead to more savings: Employers saw 53% average savings compared to network rates for necessary procedures.


A Colorado Employer Benefit Trust (CEBT) executive discussed participating in the pilot. “CEBT has long invested in both primary care and high-value specialty care solutions, but knowing where to start is often one of the most challenging parts of navigating benefits for members,” said Joe Deba, director with CEBT’s Trust Administrator, in a statement. “This pilot demonstrated how better coordination across our existing benefits ecosystem partners can help more members access the right care, improve adherence, and create measurable value. Marathon Health brings so much value to CEBT’s members beyond its high-quality care and has embraced its role to help members navigate the complex healthcare system and better understand which benefits are most relevant to them, including Lantern.”

With the partnership, Marathon clients that do not currently offer the Lantern Specialty Care benefit can purchase it directly through Marathon to ease the contracting process.

"Having worked in the specialty and acute care world where the downstream costs and consequences of fragmented care are most visible, I can tell you that primary care is the highest leverage point we have,” said Chris Pricco, CEO of Marathon Health, in a statement. “When you integrate it with specialty care, you don't just reduce cost. You change the trajectory of someone's health. That's what we've built for employers, and we’re honored to partner with Lantern to accelerate that impact.”

Pricco recently joins Marathon Health from Paradigm, where he led the company’s specialty networks and payment integrity platform. Prior to joining Paradigm, Pricco held a series of senior leadership roles at Optum for more than 15 years, most recently serving as chief operating officer of the medical benefit management division.

Marathon said it is expanding its open-access network to Detroit, Kansas City, Raleigh-Durham, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Last year, Marathon Health opened 83 new health centers, growing to 3,300 Marathon employees, and renewing partnerships with more than 95% of employer clients.