Imagine360

Imagine360
FormerlyELAP Services LLC
TypePrivate
IndustryManaged care
Founded2003
FounderSteve Kelly
Woody Waters
HeadquartersWayne, Pennsylvania
Key peopleJeff Bak, CEO
Number of employees
1,400 (2024)
Websiteimagine360.com

Imagine 360 (commonly stylized as Imagine360 and formerly called ELAP Services) is an American self-funded health care company for employers in the United States. The company provides reference-based pricing (RBP), has direct contracts with hospitals and is an alternative to U.S. health insurance plan providers.

History

ELAP Services

ELAP Services LLC was founded in 2003 by Steve Kelly and Woody Waters, with Kelly serving as the company's CEO. ELAP was initially developed as a small health care benefits consulting firm. The firm offered an alternative form of employer-sponsored health insurance in the United States by selling plans using a RBP model, which determines a reasonable cost for healthcare services and procedures based on the actual cost of care.

In 2013, approximately 100 employers used ELAP Services, according to a report by The New York Times. By May 2015, that has grown to 200 employers, providing coverage for approximately 115,000 employees.

Imagine360

In January 2022, Imagine Health merged with ELAP Services and third-party administrator Group & Pension Administrators to form Imagine360.

Imagine360's healthcare plans operate using RBP models, which typically determines a provider's payments from the U.S. Medicare rates, plus a premium. Through the RBP model, Imagine360 uses the hospital's published charges plus a 12% margin or Medicare fees plus 20%, which results in approximately 140% of Medicare's rates. The company has direct contracts with hospitals within the United States, including with the University of Pennsylvania Health System in Philadelphia.

In 2024, Imagine360 partnered with Ardent Health, an American healthcare company based in Nashville, Tennessee, to provide benefits to 23,000 employees and their dependents. In January 2025, the company acquired HealthFirst, Ardent Health's third-party administrator. In July 2025, it launched a new product called Complete Care, which also uses the RBP model but included a pharmacy benefit management solution, called Imagine360Rx, that provided drug discounts, including sourcing drugs from the United Kingdom and Canada.

As of January 2025, Imagine360 had approximately 1,000 clients. In July 2026, the company announced a new healthcare plan in collaboration with Health Rosetta, called Choice360, which integrated Health Rosetta's healthcare advisor support service. The plan is set to go live in 2027.

Controversies

In January 2023, Imagine360 identified unusual activity within Citrix, its third-party file-sharing system. Imagine360 terminated access, reset passwords, confirmed the security of its environment and investigated the breach. Then in February 2023, Fortra, an American cybersecurity company and owner of the GoAnywhere platform that Imagine360 used for secure file-transfers, notified Imagine360 of a breach within GoAnywhere. Imagine360's investigation later determined that files were copied from both external platforms (Citrix and Fortra) sometime between January 28 and January 30, 2023.

In 2024, Imagine360 filed a notice with the Attorney General of Montana after discovering a 2023 data breach when an unauthorized party accessed certain company email accounts. The incident resulted in an unauthorized party being able to access consumers' sensitive information on May 10, 2024. On July 17, 2024, Imagine360 sent notification letters to all individuals whose information was affected by the data breach.

References

  1. ↑ Rosenberg, Tina (2013-08-14). "The Cure for the $1,000 Toothbrush". Opinionator. Retrieved 2026-09-22.
  2. ↑ Wilson, Paul (Sep 16, 2020). "A broker survival guide: 3 ways to stand out". benefitspro.com. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  3. ↑ https://waterstreet.com/companies/elap-services
  4. ↑ Wilson, Paul. "3 game-changing reference-based pricing trends". benefitspro.com. Retrieved 2026-09-22.
  5. 1 2 Rosenberg, Tina (2013-08-14). "The Cure for the $1,000 Toothbrush". Opinionator. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  6. 1 2 "ELAP Services disrupts healthcare billing, tells employers not to pay | Healthcare Finance News". www.healthcarefinancenews.com. 2015-05-13. Retrieved 2026-09-22.
  7. ↑ Schiavo, Amanda. "This employer uses reference-based pricing to close the gender healthcare gap". HR Brew. Retrieved 2026-09-22.
  8. ↑ Cole, Matt (2020-10-09). "Benefits of alternative healthcare options for fleets". Commercial Carrier Journal. Retrieved 2026-10-02.
  9. ↑ Bak, Jeff. "Fixing What's Wrong with Healthcare". Imagine360. Retrieved 2026-10-02.
  10. ↑ Clason, Lauren (Aug 26, 2025). "Steep Health Costs Push Employers to Alternative Insurance Model". Bloomberg.
  11. ↑ Schneidmiller, Chris (2026-05-26). "Save Yourself | Leader's Edge Magazine". Retrieved 2026-10-02.
  12. 1 2 Tong, Noah (2024-05-29). "Imagine360 saves employers 20% more than BUCA plans". www.fiercehealthcare.com. Retrieved 2026-10-02.
  13. ↑ Brubaker, Harold (2023-11-27). "How Imagine360 in Wayne is helping companies save money on employee health coverage". Inquirer.com. Retrieved 2026-10-14.
  14. ↑ Emerson, Jakob (2025-01-15). "Imagine360 buys Ardent Health's third-party administrator - Becker's Payer Issues | Payer News". Becker's Payer Issues | Payer News. Archived from the original on 2026-03-08. Retrieved 2026-10-02.
  15. ↑ Tong, Noah (2025-01-15). "Imagine360 acquires Ardent Health TPA HealthFirst". www.fiercehealthcare.com. Retrieved 2026-09-22.
  16. ↑ "UT Health East Texas Announces Sale of HealthFirst TPA and Affiliates to Imagine360". The Gilmer Mirror. Retrieved 2026-09-22.
  17. ↑ Plescia, Marissa (July 30, 2025). "Imagine360 Unveils New Product To Provide Employers More Transparency".
  18. ↑ Plescia, Marissa (May 1, 2025). "How Imagine360 Saved this Employer 19% Compared to Traditional Health Plans". MedCityNews.
  19. ↑ Casolo, Elizabeth (2026-07-21). "Imagine360 rolls out new health plan offering - Becker's Payer Issues | Payer News". Becker's Payer Issues | Payer News. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  20. 1 2 3 "Imagine360 discovers that two of its file-sharing platforms were hit within days of each other". DataBreaches.Net. 2023-07-04. Retrieved 2026-09-22.
  21. ↑ Console, Jr., Richard (July 25, 2024). "Imagine360 Issues Data Breach Letters Following May 2024 Cyber Incident". JD Supra. Retrieved 2026-10-02.