From Health Plan Weekly
As evidenced by recent deals and partnerships, the health
insurance industry’s interest in home care is heating up.
“What we are seeing here is far more than just an effort to own more of the care delivery continuum, it is a change in the way care is delivered,” says Joe Paduda, principal with Health Strategy Associates, LLC. “The end game is to have facilities care only for those in need of ICU-level care. (Almost) every other type and level of care can and will be delivered in alternative settings — primarily the home.”
Among recent developments:
- Starting June 1, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North
Carolina will bring in-home medical care services to about 6,500 MA
members in four regions in partnership with Landmark Health, a provider of
in-home, risk-based medical care. The Blues insurer says it’s the only
insurer in the state to offer this model of care.
- Kindred shareholders on April 5 approved the sale of a
40% stake in the company’s home care division to Humana and two private
equity firms. The deal is expected to close this summer.
Meanwhile, new federal policies expanding the definition of MA
supplement benefits seem likely to allow for more coverage of in-home services
for beneficiaries.
CMS’s expansion of MA supplemental benefits could give MA plans more flexibility and “significant opportunities to lower costs,” Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Michael Wiederhorn said in an April 3 equity research note.
He added that personal care could be an attractive way for managed care plans to keep better tabs on members, while CMS’s change in regulations is showing how lawmakers realize the value of the service.
Subscribers may read the in-depth article online. Learn more about
subscribing to AIS Health's publications.
No comments:
Post a Comment