Insurers Support Volunteers, Redeploy Clinical Staff to Fight COVID-19

by Jane Anderson

Health insurers are encouraging their own on-staff clinicians to volunteer on the front lines of the battle against COVID-19, offering to continue salaries and benefits for those who sign up to help fight the pandemic.

Several insurers have rolled out measures to support medical professionals who volunteer on the front lines. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan President and CEO Daniel Loepp said in a blog post that the insurer is paying the full salary and benefits of Blue Cross medical professionals who heed the call from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for volunteers to help address surge capacity needs at hospitals.

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield is also running a volunteer program available for the company's licensed clinicians to support direct patient care to COVID-19 patients. And Centene Corp. says it is establishing a leave policy to support clinical staff who want to join a medical reserve force and serve their communities during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, plans are shifting clinical staff members away from cancelled in-person care management and quality improvement activities and toward telephonic care management activities designed to ensure certain members get the help they need, says Michael Lutz, a senior consultant with Avalere Health.

"The quality improvement programs require a lot of interaction and coordination with providers, and the plans are wanting to back off and give the providers the opportunity to be taking care of member care," Lutz says, pointing out that CMS rolled back some requirements for HEDIS data collection as a result of the pandemic.

Insurers likely will need to fill gaps created by clinical staff members volunteering, but the COVID-19 crisis already has scrambled their regular programs.

Insurers that run their own provider groups may be the most affected by potential gaps in care, says Dan Mendelson, founder of Avalere Health. He adds that there are limits on what insurers can do to fill those clinical gaps if they haven’t diversified into the care delivery system to own assets there.

From Health Plan Weekly