Earnings Labs

Humana Inc. (HUM)

Q3 2017 Earnings Call· Wed, Nov 8, 2017

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning. My name is Melissa, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Humana Third Quarter 2017 Earnings Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. Thank you. Ms. Amy Smith, you may begin your conference.

Amy K. Smith - Humana, Inc.

Management

Thank you and good morning. In a moment, Bruce Broussard, Humana's President and Chief Executive Officer and, Brian Kane, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will discuss our third quarter 2017 results and our financial outlook. Following these prepared remarks, we will open up the lines for a question-and-answer session with industry analysts. Christopher Todoroff, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, will be joining Bruce and Brian for the Q&A session. We encourage the investing public and media to listen to both management's prepared remarks and the related Q&A with analysts. This call is being recorded for replay purposes. That replay will be available on the Investor Relations page of Humana's website, humana.com, later today. Before we begin our discussion, I need to advise call participants of our Cautionary Statement. Certain of the matters discussed in this conference call are forward-looking and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially. Investors are advised to read the detailed Risk Factors discussed in our third quarter 2017 earnings press release, as well as in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Today's press release, our historical financial news releases and our filings with the SEC are all also available on our Investor Relations site. Call participants should note that today's discussion includes financial measures that are not in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or GAAP. Management's explanation for the use of these non-GAAP measures and reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures are included in today's press release. Finally, any references to earnings per share, or EPS, made during this conference call refer to diluted earnings per common share. With that, I'll turn the call over to Bruce Broussard.

Bruce D. Broussard - Humana, Inc.

Management

Thank you, Amy. Good morning and thank you for joining us. Today we reported a strong third quarter results and raised our full-year adjusted 2017 earnings guidance. Our third quarter 2017 GAAP EPS of $3.44, or $3.39 on an adjusted basis, once again exceeded our previous expectations. Our individual Medicare Advantage business continued its strong performance, in line with our most recent guidance. And our Group and Specialty segment performed well ahead of our previous expectations. We raised our adjusted EPS guidance by $0.10 to approximately $11.60, reflecting the improved Group and Specialty segment performance. This was partially offset by lower than the previously expected Healthcare Service segment pre-tax. Our full-year 2017 GAAP EPS guidance is now approximately $17.62 per share. Over the last several years, and particularly throughout 2017, we've committed to productivity initiatives designed to promote operational excellence, accelerate our strategy, fund critical initiatives and advance our growth objectives. Following my remarks, Brian will comment on our third quarter results and some of the specific multi-faceted productivity initiatives. In addition, in October, CMS published its updated Star Quality Rating Bonus year 2019 showing that we have 12 contracts rated 4 Stars or above and 2.4 million members in 4 Star or above-rated contracts to be offered in 2018. This represents approximately 74% of our Medicare Advantage membership as of July 31, 2017. We are pleased that Humana received a 4 Star rating for five Medicare Advantage contracts offered in eight states, an increase from one such contract last year. All Humana Medicare Advantage HMO contracts in Florida received a 4.5 Star rating, improving our position with our provider partners. These higher ratings are expected to result in higher rebates in 2019. As discussed in our second quarter earnings call, over the last year, we've renewed our focus on…

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

Thank you, Bruce, and good morning, everyone. As Bruce mentioned, today we reported adjusted EPS of $3.39 for the third quarter, which is ahead of our previous expectations. We raised our full-year 2017 adjusted EPS guidance to approximately $11.60 from our previous adjusted EPS guidance of approximately $11.50, and we increased our operating cash flow guidance by approximately $250 million at the midpoint to a range of $3.3 billion to $3.6 billion, primarily due to continued better-than-expected financial performance. Our Retail results are in line with our most recent forecast and continue to significantly exceed our initial expectations for 2017, led by our Medicare Advantage business. Consistent with the first half of the year, third quarter MA medical utilization trends, including hospital admissions and pharmacy spend, are running favorably relative to our pricing assumptions. In addition to our Retail segment producing strong results, our Group and Specialty segment significantly outperformed our previous expectations, primarily due to favorable prior period development and better-than-anticipated utilization trends. Trend is now running at the low end of our initial expectations of 6% plus or minus 50 basis points. Accordingly, we raised our pre-tax target for this segment for the second consecutive quarter from a range of $320 million to $340 million to a range of $350 million to $400 million. We also decreased our benefit ratio expectation to a range of 79.0% to 79.25% compared to our previous range of 79.75% to 80.25%. The Group and Specialty segment continues to consistently deliver solid results due to the team's strong focus on productivity and on offering innovative products that resonate in the marketplace. We are pleased with the return on investment we generate from this segment. As we discussed last quarter, while the Healthcare Services segment continues to generate profits and steady cash flow to…

Operator

Operator

Your first question comes from Peter Costa with Wells Fargo Securities.

Peter Heinz Costa - Wells Fargo Securities LLC

Analyst · Wells Fargo Securities

Good morning. Thank you. I'd like to understand a little bit more about why the change in the way you're giving 2018 guidance this time as opposed to giving more detail on a straight-up EPS number. And also, your expectations for Medicare Advantage growth next year, given the increased competition we're seeing from others in the marketplace. Why do you believe you're going to see better growth there?

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

Sure. Good morning, Peter. On the guidance side, we didn't actually give guidance of the third quarter last year either. What we're trying to give investors a broad direction of what we see 2018 to be. But there are still a lot of things that are going to happen in the next few months and we think it's appropriate and prudent to give guidance on the fourth quarter call, and that will be our practice going forward. With regard to individual MA growth, really the reasons that I discussed in my opening remarks relating to the stability of benefits that we provided for our members and investing in certain markets where we believed we had a high right to win. And as we think about our value proposition and as we see the competitive data, we feel good about the range that we provided this morning.

Peter Heinz Costa - Wells Fargo Securities LLC

Analyst · Wells Fargo Securities

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Your next question is from Kevin Fischbeck with Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Kevin Mark Fischbeck - Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Analyst · Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Great. Thanks. I guess I wanted to go back and make sure I understood what the commentary was around the EPS guidance for next year. Did you say that you're going to guide below the range of 11% to 15%, or below the midpoint of that range? And I guess when we think about the rationale for doing below that this year, would we think that there's anything unusual into 2019 that should stop you from getting to that long-term target?

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

Sure. So, with regard to the range, what we said was, our initial guide at the high point will be a bit below our 11% to 15% range. So a bit below 11%, so it's not below the midpoint. It would be way too early to comment on 2019 since we haven't given 2018 guidance. The only thing I would say is that, given the HIF return in 2018, that's a particularly large headwind that we've had to deal with. I mean, a $1 billion non-deductible fee is a very big number. And so that's been a major issue that we've had to grapple with and it really affects our customers and affects our earnings performance.

Amy K. Smith - Humana, Inc.

Management

Okay. Next question?

Operator

Operator

Your next question is from Justin Lake with Wolfe Research.

Justin Lake - Wolfe Research LLC

Analyst · Wolfe Research

Thanks. Good morning. Just questions on Medicare Advantage and the outlook there. First, can you talk to the rationale between not being able to guide to a target margin at 4.5% to 5%, given how strong the business was this year? And specifically, you said, Brian, I think during the prepared remarks that cost trends are running better than what you built into the bids. Does this guidance, that lower than 4.5%, assume the bid margin or does it assume inclusive of a lower trend? And lastly, can you just tell us what kind of attrition rate you're assuming for this year and how that compare for 2018 and how that compares to previous years in Individual MA? Thanks.

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

Okay. Good morning, Justin. That was three questions.

Justin Lake - Wolfe Research LLC

Analyst · Wolfe Research

Indeed.

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

Okay. Again, we've invested our outperformance in 2017 into the product design, which gets us to below that 4.5% to 5%. And that's really what's driving it. Again, we're facing very significant headwinds, as I've mentioned a few times with the HIF. We've I think done a good job of offsetting a lot of that headwind with very significant productivity savings that we've been very focused on and driving in 2017. I think you'll see that ultimately in our 2018 guidance. But that's really the rationale for driving below the initial targeted range of 4.5% to 5%. I'm trying to remember now the second question. Justin, remind me the second question.

Justin Lake - Wolfe Research LLC

Analyst · Wolfe Research

You'd said there was better trend.

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

Sorry, right. So to be clear. Sorry about that. So, on the trends side, what I was referring to was the Commercial business trend. Trends continue to run favorable to pricing. But consistent with where we were really last quarter when we gave the updated guidance, nothing has really materially changed from what we saw last quarter. But on the Commercial side, we have seen continued lower trends and that's why we were able to improve our pre-tax guidance. And, again, I really wouldn't want to comment too much on attrition embedded in our numbers. I would say that we feel very good about our attrition levels. I'm just not going to comment at this point. It's way too early to give a sense of where attrition will be.

Justin Lake - Wolfe Research LLC

Analyst · Wolfe Research

Thanks.

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

No problem.

Operator

Operator

Your next question is from Matt Borsch with BMO Capital.

Matt Borsch - BMO Capital Markets

Analyst · BMO Capital

Not to belabor the point again, but on your 2018 guidance, can you just talk to how maybe your view evolved over the last few months relative to how you described the outlook on the second quarter call?

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

I would say, Matt, it's really consistent. I think the business continues to perform quite well. We feel good about all the initiatives that we're pursuing. We made the decision at bid time to invest the outperformance into our 2018 product design. We believe that was the right decision to create long-term sustainability. We also believe it's important to continue to invest in the business, which is what Bruce and I have talked about in our remarks. And so we're going to continue to do that. But I would say that nothing has really materially changed in our business outlook from this quarter from last quarter.

Matt Borsch - BMO Capital Markets

Analyst · BMO Capital

Okay. And if I could just one more, which is on the Medicare Advantage growth. How does your very preliminary view of the Open Enrollment process compare with what I understand to be CMS' prediction for 9% overall growth in program-wide enrollment, which I guess would include both Individual and Group?

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

It's really hard to comment on how CMS calculates the numbers. I would tell you that what we've seen the last two years on the Individual side is a little bit less than 6% growth. For us, that's not an unreasonable way to think about market growth this year. But, obviously, we'll see where the data shakes out. But there's nothing that's meaningfully changed this year that would change that growth rate.

Matt Borsch - BMO Capital Markets

Analyst · BMO Capital

All right. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Your next question is from Josh Raskin with Nephron Research.

Joshua Raskin - Nephron Research

Analyst · Nephron Research

Thanks. Good morning. Question is around the reductions in force and the voluntary retirement. And I'm just curious what the catalyst was there. Was there some sort of strategic review process? Was this sort of just, hey, post the Aetna transaction, we've got to start thinking about the business in a longer-term fashion? I'm just curious what created that. And was any of that tied to the MA bidding and the inability to get into that 4.5% to 5% range?

Bruce D. Broussard - Humana, Inc.

Management

Really throughout 2017, we have been oriented to improving the productivity of the organization. And it's really to create capacity, both to be competitive in the marketplace from a benefit design point of view for our customers. And, as everyone knows, there's a continued need to invest in the business for long-term competitive positioning, whether it's in technology or it's in areas that are building capabilities, like in our Provider area or even in our Home area, which helps us with clinical outcomes. So I wouldn't say it was really a planned process that we went through over the year. It came together at the end and the last month or so. But I would say that we've been working on these productivity initiatives really even before the Aetna transactional termination. And so, I wouldn't call it anything but just continuously trying to improve the productivity of the organization and reinvesting those dollars in our customer and reinvesting those dollars in the infrastructure of the company.

Joshua Raskin - Nephron Research

Analyst · Nephron Research

All right. That makes sense. And just, Brian, real quick follow-up. I just want to make sure I understood. The starting point is $11 in terms of a run rate for this year, and that's the number from which you'll grow the high end slightly less than – or a bit less than 11%? Is that the right math?

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

That's correct.

Joshua Raskin - Nephron Research

Analyst · Nephron Research

Okay. Perfect.

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

Yeah.

Operator

Operator

Your next question is from Ana Gupte with Leerink Partners.

Ana A. Gupte - Leerink Partners LLC

Analyst · Leerink Partners

Yeah. Hi. Thanks. Good morning. The first question on the workforce reduction. What is the timing of realizing the run rate savings? Or is all of that termination happening by the end of this year?

Bruce D. Broussard - Humana, Inc.

Management

We have notified the majority of the individuals. So, first, let me back up, Ana, a little bit. As I mentioned, we've been doing this throughout the year. So, we've had reductions that have begun to show up in our financial numbers probably starting in the second quarter or so. But this particular reduction will show up in the first quarter of 2018 as we transition the individuals out. The full transition would be done by the middle of January.

Ana A. Gupte - Leerink Partners LLC

Analyst · Leerink Partners

Okay. Thanks. And then if I could just do a quick follow-up. On the Physician Services, how do you not double count that pressure on your Medicare MLR outlook? And will that persist into 2018, or is that kind of done at this point? Because that's related to the rates in MA, correct?

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

When you say Physician, do you mean our Provider business in South Florida, is that you're referring to?

Ana A. Gupte - Leerink Partners LLC

Analyst · Leerink Partners

Yeah, right. Yeah.

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

Okay. Yeah. I mean, look, it's an interesting dynamic in South Florida. Those rates have continued to be ratcheted down over the last few years. We've seen that multiple years in a row. I would tell you to-date that the competition really hasn't changed fundamentally the benefit design there. And so, as a consequence, I think people have just had to get better and better to continue to drive profitability. But there's no doubt that profitability has been reduced in the Provider segment because of those actions. We've also adjusted some of our contractual terms with our providers to help ease that transition and been very thoughtful about our benefit design and working with our provider partners. But net-net, it has had an impact on our overall profitability in that region in the Provider business. As it relates to growth, as I said, I think the carriers and us included, I think have tried to be very prudent about how we deal with these rate declines and still offer compelling value proposition to members. And that's allowed us to continue to grow. I would tell you that were it not for those rate reductions, we would grow more. There's no doubt about it. But we've done everything we can to try to minimize the impact on the customer.

Ana A. Gupte - Leerink Partners LLC

Analyst · Leerink Partners

Thanks for the color.

Operator

Operator

Your next question is from A. J. Rice with Credit Suisse. A. J. Rice - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC: Hi. Hello, everybody. Just a point of clarification to Josh's question and then I want to ask you about Pharmacy. On the $11 base earnings, you commented, Brian, that you would guide differently than what your actual PYD was this year. Is that reflected in the $11 baseline start? And then more broadly, on your Pharmacy comments. You've been able to drill down as to what's happening in mail order. And I know you guys did a strategic review of Pharmacy a few years ago, but there seems to be a whole lot of changes in the PBM landscape. Does that cause you to look at anything differently, partnerships, opportunities? And then your push for integrated models. I know guys are talking about engaging with the pharmacists more. And at the Retail pharmacy outlet, you have your relationship with Walmart. Is there any evolution in how you're deploying that in terms of maybe provision of care in dealing with gaps in care?

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

Good morning, A. J. So, on the $11, what the $11 reflects is the 2017 outperformance. So effectively what that does is it takes into account the PPD for 2017 as we start our baseline. But as you think about 2018, when we grow off that $11 base, we're not going to assume the same level of PPD that's occurred. So that's the distinction we make between the 2017 PPD that's effectively reflected. That outperformance is reflected in taking the baseline back to $11, but the 2018 guide will not assume the same level of PPD that we've seen in 2017. So hopefully that makes sense. A. J. Rice - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC: Okay.

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

On the mail order side, I would separate the mail order reduction we've seen and some of the broader questions that you're asking. It's hard to know exactly what's driving the mail order reduction, particularly for the new members. We think it might have something to do with benefit design. It could have something to do with just the nature of the risk that we're attracting versus the competition and where perhaps the higher utilizers are going. I think overall we're benefiting from a health plan perspective in terms of the risk dynamic we're seeing, but it has had an impact on the Pharmacy profitability. More broadly to your question on strategic reviews and costs. We constantly are looking for opportunities to drive costs out of the system. We continually review our cost of goods. We continue to look at our cost to fill. And I will tell you that the Pharmacy team really does a fantastic job of being best-in-class in both of those areas as we look at the opportunities that are out there. But as we've said multiple times, we are not wedded to any particular philosophy with regard to if we can find opportunities to drive out costs the system, we will do that. But what's critical for us is that the Pharmacy is a critical clinical engagement opportunity and mechanism with our members. And so that can't change. But as it relates to costs, we are always open-minded. And I will tell you, these guys do a great job of driving best-in-class cost of goods for our plan and for the Pharmacy.

Bruce D. Broussard - Humana, Inc.

Management

A.J., you did further ask the question around leveraging pharmacists and the ability to close gaps. We do think that pharmacists serve an important role in the clinical interaction with our members. And then today, in fact, we have quality contracts with a number of retail chains that allow that benefit to both encouraged pharmacists at the counter to do it and in addition to get rewarded for any kind of improvement in quality and clinical outcomes. In addition, we are continuously adding pharmacy locations to our provider areas where we will have a pharmacy inside our Primary Care Clinics. And again, it's leveraging that moment of influence that the pharmacist has. We are finding mixed results in our relationships with the retail pharmacies. In the clinical outcomes, we find where it's convenient and it's more in a clinical setting, it's more effective than it is in the retail setting. But I think that's also just the time that the pharmacist has at the counter to be able to have that engagement. A. J. Rice - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC: All right. Great. Thanks a lot.

Operator

Operator

Your next question is from Chris Rigg with Deutsche Bank.

Chris Rigg - Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc.

Analyst · Deutsche Bank

Good morning. Just wanted to ask a big picture question about the competitive environment in the Medicare Advantage business. Seems like you guys are working really hard to get to market growth, albeit at a target margin slightly below where you want to be long term. Do you think other participants are being a little bit more aggressive or slightly irrational in their attempts to grow membership at this point? Thanks.

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

I don't know if I'd use the word irrational. But I think it's fair to say that our competitors view Medicare Advantage as an exciting growth area. I think they've invested a lot to grow their platforms and to expand their positions across the board, and it's just something that we're going to have to deal with. I think we feel good that we are really in the Strike Zone of where the growth of Managed Care is happening. We believe that we have superior clinical programs and the right operating model to capitalize on that growth. But there's no doubt that we're facing a much stronger competitive environment. And I would say that's been compounded by the fact that we have this massive Health Insurance Fee that's returning in 2018. That impacts the customer and it impacts the industry. And so, I think those two factors have required us to take significant action, which we've done this year, and invest some of the outperformance that we've had this year into our 2018 benefit design. But long term, I will tell you we feel very good about how we're positioned.

Bruce D. Broussard - Humana, Inc.

Management

I would just add to that. I think as you look at the trajectory of the industry, it has a very strong demand trajectory. But I would also say that I think even on our investments we're making today that the competitive nature is going to evolve. And we think the competitive nature is going to continue to evolve to be much more oriented to a clinical approach as opposed to just from an insurance and pricing point of view. And as you look at our investments, it's really focused on how do we continuously proactively help people with, especially chronic members, in managing their conditions. And I think long term, all organizations to be in this business are going to have to have some really clinical strength. And we believe in the short run, we have to meet the competitive natures of pricing relative to the number of players being in the marketplace. But long term, we have to invest and build those clinical outcomes. And it's the combination of those two things you see the organization doing.

Chris Rigg - Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc.

Analyst · Deutsche Bank

Great. Thanks a lot.

Operator

Operator

Your next question is from Gary Taylor, JPMorgan.

Gary P. Taylor - JPMorgan Securities LLC

Analyst

Hi. Good morning. Just had one clarification and then my question. And to be awfully redundant on the clarification, I just want make sure I have this perfectly correct. So, if we start 2017 base of 11%, we're going to grow a little below 11% to 15%, 11% growth will be $12.21, so something a bit below that. And you're going to give a wider range than the initial $0.30 range. Is that fair?

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

Yeah. Without opining on the $12.21, yes, that is correct.

Gary P. Taylor - JPMorgan Securities LLC

Analyst

Okay. And then just going back to the early retirement and the layoffs announced. I wanted to make sure I had Bruce's comments correct that you expect most of that to be effective in January, so you get a full year earnings benefit from that. Did I understand that correctly?

Bruce D. Broussard - Humana, Inc.

Management

You did, yes.

Gary P. Taylor - JPMorgan Securities LLC

Analyst

And can you give us a dollar amount that you're targeting? And then does most of that just come out of G&A?

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

I would say – so, these are big numbers. Ultimately, at the end of the day, our savings initiatives will run into the hundreds of millions of dollars for 2018. And I would say some of that is in G&A. Some of that will show up actually in our MER because of the nature of the associate base that's being impacted. That actually gets classified as an MER expense. I think it's fair to say that when you look at our adjusted operating cost ratio next year, when you pull out the HIF and other things that you will see a reduction for sure. And we'll obviously give more color on that on the fourth quarter call.

Gary P. Taylor - JPMorgan Securities LLC

Analyst

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Your next question is from Dave Windley with Jefferies.

David Styblo - Jefferies LLC

Analyst · Jefferies

Hi there. It's Dave Styblo in for Windley. I wanted to just come back to the HIF so I can understand a little bit more specifically what parts of the business does it affect? I'd imagine maybe some of it is for exchange support. But can you give us a better sense of what departments these are coming in? And to what extent the savings are going to be used to offset the HIF, or is this going to be used to invest in initiatives you outlined in the prepared remarks about care in the home or the providers?

Bruce D. Broussard - Humana, Inc.

Management

Yeah, I'll take that. I think it really is across the organization. There wasn't one area that was impacted both geographically or from a department point of view the organization. Really, as Brian has mentioned, is we're looking for productivity improvements throughout the company. So, I wouldn't say it's one specific area related to any one initiative we have. In regards to the investment side, is it investing, is it going to the shareholders or is it going to benefits? I would say it's fairly, it's fungible and it sort of goes through all that. I think we've continued to manage in how do we invest in the business for long-term sustainability and compete in the local marketplace, how do we continue to have a competitive market offering. And if you look at our market offering, you'll see that we're not the cheapest in the market. So we're constantly trying to ensure that we're not giving the product away and our brand and all the things we do from a customer experience point of view wins the customer over. And then at the same time, we also look at the ability to invest in the advancement of our initiatives. And I would say it's sort of all those items. I wouldn't say we did it just to fund a particular initiative. We really worked through saying, how can we be competitive? How can we meet the long-term goals of our shareholders? And, at the same time, how do we ensure that we are productive in being able to also invest.

David Styblo - Jefferies LLC

Analyst · Jefferies

Okay. And then as you're looking to reduce some of these costs, how do we get a little bit more comfortable from the outside that these don't impact your ability to move forward on trend benders?

Bruce D. Broussard - Humana, Inc.

Management

Yeah, I would tell you that we cherish the trend bender area. And I would tell you a lot of what we've done is to look at where are the areas that are less where it is not as impactful. But the trend bender area is a very important part. And as you can tell from the script that I outlined, we are investing in the areas that we feel will affect the chronic conditions and really bring alive longer term-trend benders. And so investors should not worry about that. That is a passion of ours that is continuing to ensure that our clinical programs our advanced.

Amy K. Smith - Humana, Inc.

Management

Next question, please?

Operator

Operator

Your next question is from Zack Sopcak with Morgan Stanley. Zachary W. Sopcak - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC: Hey. Thank you for the question. Can you just remind us what's included in that preliminary 2018 guidance, what the contribution of capital deployment is? And then you talked about some potential opportunities for M&A. But how do you view M&A versus share buybacks as we head into next year?

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

At this stage, we're not prepared to talk about the specifics around capital deployment. I think you've seen our willingness to deploy capital in buying back stock, and we will continue to do that. And similarly, on the M&A side, it's really not something that we're prepared to give any more color around today. Although then, just referring back to Bruce's opening remarks that we actively look for assets that advance our strategy. And we're going to continue to do that because it's important to do that. I would tell you that if we found an M&A opportunity that advanced our strategy, that would take precedence over share repurchase if it made sense to do that. But we're very committed to share repurchase. You see that we have leverage capacity in our balance sheet. We're at 30%, 31% debt-to-cap. We have ample parent company cash to accomplish our objectives. And so we won't be shy about deploying our capital, obviously maintaining our investment-grade rating, which is also very important to us. Zachary W. Sopcak - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC: Okay. Thanks. Just to clarify, when you give full guidance, I guess, in the fourth quarter, will we get more color on how much of that is coming from capital deployment?

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

Yeah, we typically in our guidance waterfalls, we'll call out for you exactly what relates to capital deployment. So, yes, we will do that. Zachary W. Sopcak - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC: Okay. Great. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Your next question is from Sarah James with Piper Jaffray. Sarah E. James - Piper Jaffray & Co.: Thank you. I appreciate the detail on analytics and data sources. Can you tell us how you're using that data? Is it on the Care Management to Clinical side? Or are you also following it into decisions on branding spend, marketing mix and product development? Then do you feel that you have the technology and human assets that you need for your analytics? Or should we expect Humana to get more competitive and more prudent data scientists?

Bruce D. Broussard - Humana, Inc.

Management

We have multiple sources of information, both clinically, which are coming from claims based to electronic medical records information, which also includes coming from notes within the Electronic Medical Records. So, you see that one side. But on the other side, we also pull a significant amount of consumer information, both from as much we can get from public, but also in the interactions that we have with our members. So we look at how they're using the digital, from the Pharmacy point of view, what are the using the Pharmacy area, how they're using or are they using mail-order, are they using our Retail? And that gives us a lot of information about how their preferences on engaging in their healthcare. And so, I would say that there's a whole host of ways we go about bringing the analytics to the forefront. In regards to the question on analytics and from a human resource point of view, we have over the last number of years, and we really haven't brought it out to our investors, have invested significantly, both in the Consumer Analytics and also in our Clinical Analytics. And I think people would be very surprised at the depth of our analytics capability today. We're always adding and expanding our clinical capability. It's just part of our normal planning cycle and our HR recruitment area. And so, I would say that, yes, to answer your question, that we will continue to be investing in that area. But I would say today, we are in this area of predictive analytics and contextualization of the member, I would say we're fairly advanced in both from our competitive point of view, but I think in the industry in general. Sarah E. James - Piper Jaffray & Co.: You said that you would be surprised at how much Humana has invested in Consumer Analytics. Is there any way for you to frame that up or size it for us?

Bruce D. Broussard - Humana, Inc.

Management

I don't think I would do that. I think both from a competitive point of view and in addition we don't disclose that kind of detail. Sarah E. James - Piper Jaffray & Co.: Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Your final question comes from Christine Arnold with Cowen. Christine Arnold - Cowen & Co. LLC: Thanks for squeezing me in. A couple things. Healthcare Services, I hear that we still have some headwinds here. But also, I'm hearing that MA fees in the Healthcare Services – is Healthcare Services a headwind or a tailwind next year with respect to earnings? And then good growth in group MA. But we're hearing that it's a pretty competitive environment there. Do you expect the margins there to come in kind of below your target range of 4.5% to 5% as you do with Individual, or do you expect margins to be maintained there? Thanks.

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

Morning, Christine. So, I'm not prepared to comment on giving Individual segment guidance. I think there are pluses and minuses on the Healthcare Service side. Obviously, you mentioned MA growth. That's obviously a positive. I've talked about some of headwinds on the Pharmacy side with regard to PDP growth, et cetera. So, I'm not prepared really to give segment-level specific guidance at this time. But obviously, we'll comment extensively on that on the fourth quarter call. With regard to group MA, we've been very clear that we're going to maintain pricing discipline on that. As we've said before, our margins in group MA are not 4.5% to 5%. That is not a target margin Group MA. It is below that. But I think we feel pretty good about our Group MA business. I think the team is doing a really nice job of finding opportunities where we can earn a good return on capital. And again, being very disciplined in some of these larger accounts where we can drive profitability as well as customer satisfaction. So, I think we feel very good about the positioning of our Group business. Christine Arnold - Cowen & Co. LLC: So, on the margin, is the margin a headwind or a tailwind do you think for Group MA next year?

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

Again, I'd rather not give – I'm sorry? Christine Arnold - Cowen & Co. LLC: Is it easier to pass the HIF along because you're dealing with a group?

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

Typically, in the larger accounts that there's a specific adjustment for the HIF, particularly the jumbo accounts. But that obviously impacts overall growth in the space, but also potential willingness of a Group account to actually choose Group MA. So, there's some impact there. But it is, I would call it, a very transparent market, particularly at the large end. And so, the HIF is well known and it's discussed. Christine Arnold - Cowen & Co. LLC: Okay. Thanks.

Brian A. Kane - Humana, Inc.

Management

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

I will now turn the call back over to Bruce Broussard for closing remarks.

Bruce D. Broussard - Humana, Inc.

Management

Well, thank you. And, again, thanks to all our investors that support the organization over the years. You've been part of us. And lastly and as importantly, I'd like to thank our talented Humana team members, which really make these results possible. And so, we appreciate it. And this will be the close of the call. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.