Humana teams up with DispatchHealth to provide home healthcare services
Members living with multiple chronic conditions will have an opportunity to be treated safely at home and thereby avoid hospital visits.
Humana has announced it is teaming up with in-home medical care provider DispatchHealth to provide its members with advanced home healthcare services in an effort to enhance patients' experience and health outcomes.
These services will initially be available in Denver and in Tacoma, Washington, with expansion to additional markets in Texas, Arizona and Nevada planned for later this year.
The agreement will provide members living with multiple chronic conditions – such as cellulitis, kidney and urinary tract infections, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure and others – with an opportunity to be treated safely at home and thereby avoid hospital visits.
Last November, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced a waiver program to allow qualified healthcare providers to offer acute, hospital-level care in the home. The Dispatch-Humana agreement is believed to be the country's first program to provide hospital-level care involving a national payer, according to Humana.
WHAT'S THE IMPACT?
The home health market is expected to grow. Both payers and consumers want more healthcare to move to the home, according to CareCentrix research that shows 63% of U.S. adults prefer to receive care at home.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Humana said it has seen a substantial increase in demand for in-home care. Some members – especially older adults with multiple chronic conditions – are seeking care at home to reduce their chance of exposure to the virus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 56% of adults 65 and older have two or more chronic conditions.
Humana said its holistic approach to patient care also empowers clinicians to identify and address certain needs, such as the social determinants of health. Social determinants of health are the life circumstances and environments that impact a person's health and wellbeing, including food insecurity, social isolation, loneliness and housing instability. The pandemic is exacerbating many behavioral, social and nutritional challenges.
Humana members who meet the clinical admission criteria will have access to an on-call, dedicated DispatchHealth medical team, which includes an internal medicine-trained physician with ER experience and a physician assistant or nurse practitioner. Patients receive 24/7 physician coverage with remote monitoring, an emergency call button and daily visits from DispatchHealth's medical team, including bedside nursing.
DispatchHealth's model and technology enable clinical care and coordination of other services, such as pharmacy and meal deliveries, physical and respiratory therapy, Durable Medical Equipment (DME) access and imaging services.
THE LARGER TREND
Humana has made a number of investments and partnerships over the past several months. In July 2020, the payer invested $100 million into Heal, an app that helps users coordinate doctor house calls. Although initially limited to Los Angeles, the company has expanded its reach over the past five years to supply its services throughout California, New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Virginia, Washington state, Maryland and Washington D.C.
In September, Humana announced a multiyear partnership to launch its new care coordination platform, the Enterprise Clinical Operating Model, using the Salesforce Health Cloud. The Humana platform will facilitate integrated care coordination between its members, care teams and provider communities wherever people receive care.
Later that month, Humana announced the expansion of its value-based program portfolio by adding two new programs for members of select Humana Medicare Advantage plans. One is a coronary artery bypass grafting episode-based model for certain members undergoing heart bypass surgery, while the other is an orthopedic payment program.
ON THE RECORD
"Now, more than ever, it is critical that our most vulnerable patients have access to care and avoid unnecessary hospital admissions," said Mark Prather, CEO of DispatchHealth. "Our Advanced Care services safely provide in-home medical care for acutely ill patients requiring multiple days of treatment. The natural link between our on-demand service offering and Advanced Care delivers on the vision of a hospital-like setting without walls. We look forward to expanding our relationship with our forward-thinking partner, Humana."
Twitter: @JELagasse
Email the writer: jeff.lagasse@himssmedia.com
