Quality policy

1. Background and purpose

Humana is one of the largest care companies in the Nordic region with the vision that "Everyone is entitled to a good life". Our core business is to offer quality health care and care as well as schools, thus creating long-term sustainability for both the individual and society. The health and safety of our customers and clients, non-discrimination, privacy and protection of clients and customers in our operations is always our highest priority.

Social care in the Nordic region is facing significant challenges, and it has traditionally been a challenge to measure and assess quality and outcomes. Humana wants to see a change in this and wants to contribute to development of health and social care in the Nordic region.

The purpose of this policy is to establish the principles and governance of quality work within Humana's health care and social care services.

2. Scope

The policy applies to all parts of and all employees, as well as customers and clients, in the Humana Group.

3. The main principles of quality care

Humana regards laws, regulations, ethical guidelines and other requirements as a minimum level of quality work. Humana will also work systematically to analyse and act on the requirements and expectations set by our stakeholders, which include customers and clients, relatives, clients, employees, owners and investors.

In order to achieve the best possible results for customers and clients, Humana's main principle is that health care and care should be based on equal parts commitment and structure and that it should be characterised by:

a) Individual solutions: The starting point for Humana's care is always the individual's circumstances and needs, and that customers and clients are always prioritised first. We cherish self-determination, integrity and a high quality of life for everyone and adapt solutions to each individual, where participation and influence are key factors.

b) Shared values: Our shared values are the starting point for strategic planning as well as day-to-day contact with customers and clients. Our employees' sense of responsibility, commitment and joy make a decisive difference to the quality of our services.

c) Evidence-based practice: Humana strives to ensure that each individual receives the most appropriate intervention based on the best available knowledge, the individual's situation, experience, wishes and professional expertise.

d) High competence: Humana applies a competency-based recruitment process and offers continuous skills development, including via our learning portal. Satisfied and competent employees are crucial to delivering high-quality health care and care.

4. Strategies for improved quality

Humana shall work to improve the quality of health care and care in our own operations as well as to contribute to development of health and social care in the Nordic region. As the business is highly regulated and subject to permits, we see regulatory compliance as the basis for quality work (read more in the Compliance Policy). In addition, we work on the basis of four strategies to improve the quality of our operations: systematic improvement work, evidence-based practice, quality measurement and reporting, and employee skills development and job satisfaction.

4.1 Continuous improvement

Well-functioning work with systematic improvements is a prerequisite for providing health care and care that can ensure the safety and protection, health and integrity of our customers and clients. It can be said that every employee at Humana has dual responsibilities – to provide care, and to actively contribute to the improvement of our working methods by detecting, recognising and managing any problems that arise.

The cornerstones for conducting systematic improvement work within Humana are:

a) Strong core values culture: All employees should feel safe to suggest improvements and to report deviations.

b) Joint management system: The management system should help managers and employees in the form of steering documents and methodological support for systematic improvement work.

c) Established deviation reporting: There must be robust and well-implemented systems and procedures for deviation reporting. Making it easy to do the right thing.

d) Integrated self-monitoring and internal audits: All organisations should set intervals for their systematic improvement work. Audits shall be carried out with the aim of verifying regulatory compliance and detecting shortcomings in order to achieve improvements. The Group’s compliance function shall identify, report and minimize risks for the Group related to regulatory compliance and to assist with measures to reduce losses if risks have materialised.

4.2 Quality measurement and transparent quality reporting

We see quality measurements as central to assessing how well health care and care meets the requirements and expectations for high quality, as well as to identify areas for improvement. We work with both direct and indirect quality goals and measures, and strive to increase the number of performance measures. We believe that openness and transparency is a key to the dissemination of knowledge, which in turn is an important quality-enhancing factor. We therefore communicate the results of our quality measurements openly and regularly and are transparent about the serious deviations we have.

4.3 Evidence-informed practise

In all parts of our business, we want to be able to describe what we do and that it is based on current research, practice and the experiences of customers and clients. Humana therefore strives for all our operations to be able to answer three questions at three different levels regarding work with evidence-informed practice:

a) Structural goals – "What do we say we do?". Each operation must be able to describe the organisation's offering and know-how.

b) Process goals – "Are we doing what we say we are doing?". This question aims to highlight the ways and instruments we use to follow up and ensure that each business delivers on its promises and commitments. In this case, different business systems are used to follow up on routines, structure and other goals taken.

c) Impact goal – "Do we make a difference?" In this matter, the ambition is to try as far as possible to measure whether our efforts and interventions make a difference for those we meet in our work. This level also indicates whether we have the right skills or if we need new or different skills for our various assignments.

4.4 Employees' skills development and well-being

We know that employees' skills and job satisfaction have a direct effect on the quality of care. In order to provide our customers and clients with the best possible health care and care, one of Humana's strategic Group goals is to be an attractive employer and the first choice for everyone who works with care in the Nordic region. To achieve this, we are investing in creating an organisation with strong values characterised by inclusion and diversity, which offers employees security, a good work environment, good leadership and skills development.

4.5 Targets and measures

In order to evaluate the strategies behind our quality work, we have set both indirect and direct quality targets and measures, which we evaluate on a quarterly basis.

We are also working to measure the direct effect of care interventions, in the form of so-called social outcome measures.

Humana's ambition is to develop and expand the work with social outcome measures over time and make it a natural part of Nordic care in general.

5. Management and deviation management systems

Humana has a management system for sustainable development with the four perspectives of quality/safety/environment/work environment, with financials as the basic perspective.

The management system is process-driven with a constant focus on improvements, and it continuously measures how effective our processes are and how we achieve the goals set in relation to our customers and clients. Our Group-wide management system shall function as a tool in the day-to-day work and be a support both for the individual employee and at an overall level. Humana also has systems for reporting and handling deviations that cover all of Human's operations.

6. Quality certification

Humana's quality work must meet the expectations and requirements of external stakeholders. This often means that designated parts within Humana must be covered by recognized quality management systems, such as ISO 9001 or equivalent, which means that the quality management system must meet certain requirements in terms of structure, organisation and processes in order to be able to plan, implement, follow up and improve the ongoing quality work. Parts of Humana's operations are quality certified according to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. This means that they have an approved quality or environmental management system that have been certified by a specially appointed independent auditor.

7. Roles and responsibilities

Responsibility for Humana's quality work is distributed as follows:

7.1 Board of Directors

Humana's Board of Directors is responsible for ensuring that the Humana Group has appropriate quality work, including the necessary policies, governing documents and processes for this. At at least one meeting per year, the Board of Directors shall address compliance with this policy, propose any changes, and consider and approve the annual quality and compliance report.

7.2 Group CEO

Humana's Group CEO is responsible for ensuring that there is a quality policy that is adapted to the Group's operations and that establishes Humana's objectives and direction for the Group's quality work. The Group CEO is also responsible for ensuring that there are sufficient resources and knowledge in the Group to be able to conduct effective quality work. The Group CEO informs the Board of Directors of the policy and reports on follow-up and results at least once a year.

7.3 Country managers

Humana's country managers are responsible for the implementation of this policy in their respective countries, including ensuring that material data for the country to be included in the consolidated financial statements can be collected and reported. Every country takes part in ongoing quality and compliance work and coordination with the other countries.

7.4 Head of Quality & Compliance

Humana's Head of Quality & Compliance is responsible for developing, coordinating and following up the Group's quality work and supporting the country managers in the implementation of this policy, including offering training and sharing knowledge and good examples. The Head of Quality & Compliance also leads the work of the Group's Quality and Compliance Group, prepares proposals for decisions in Group Executive Management and coordinates the Group's reporting.

7.5 Country Quality & Compliance Organisations

The countries' quality and compliance organisations support the operations and employees in their quality work.

7.6 Managers of individual operations

Managers of individual operations must ensure that their employees take part in and work in accordance with the principles in this policy. In addition, the person responsible for the business also ensures that employees have access to specific instructions, routines and other forms of practical guidance and training that they need to support their daily quality work.

7.7 Employees in the Group

Humana employees play a central role in our quality work. By following our guidelines and actively seeking new knowledge, we ensure that our services are of the highest quality. Every employee, regardless of their role, contributes to achieving our goals through both major changes and small, daily improvements

8. Continuous improvements and possible deviations

All employees are encouraged to bring up good ideas and suggestions for improvements in the quality area and to draw attention to any deviations or shortcomings. This can be done to the immediate manager or in channels intended for deviation reporting.

Violations of this policy must be reported to Humana's Head of Group Quality & Compliance or to the whistleblower function accessed through Humana’s external websites, which gives employees an opportunity to anonymously report serious misconduct.

9. Follow-up and evaluation

The Group CEO is ultimately responsible for monitoring this policy and for reporting the outcome to the Board of Directors at least annually. The Head of Group Quality & Compliance is responsible for ensuring that the policy is reviewed at least annually, and updated as necessary.

10. Other relevant governing documents and instructions

Each business area within Humana is responsible for ensuring that there are relevant governing documents and instructions that regulate quality and compliance work within the business area.

The policy was approved by the Board of Directors of Humana AB on 22 October 2024.

Translated from Swedish. In case of any discrepancies between the Swedish text and the English translation, the Swedish text shall prevail.