Home care has become a crucial part of care plans for primary care providers (PCPs), according to a new value-based care report conducted by Humana (NYSE: HUM).
The report tracked physician progress and patient outcomes based on 2020 data and highlighted how value-based PCPs were able to leverage home care to improve some of those outcomes.
“Home-based care can be a partner and support system to help PCPs and other physicians take the best care of their patients,” Andrew Lynch, the vice president of home solutions for Humana, said in the report. “Whether it’s Medicare home care, advanced urgent care, hospital at home … we believe all of these can help value-based physicians better manage their patients and improve outcomes.”
The Louisville, Kentucky-based Humana is trying to transform its CenterWell network – which includes a primary care arm and now one of the largest home health arms in the country – into a value-driven one.
The company has its own goal of having half of its Medicare Advantage (MA) members in a value-based home health model by 2027. On the primary care front, Humana’s CenterWell is one of the largest value-based primary care groups in the country.
“Part of Humana’s enterprise strategy is to be influential at those points of care that we know have an outsized impact on quality and outcomes,” Matt Eirich, the chief growth officer for Humana’s Care Delivery Organization, told HHCN earlier this year. “Home care and primary care are two of those areas, which is why we also have our enterprise relationship with Kindred.”
The prevalence of in-home care, the report said, satisfied two needs within a value-based care system: providing care for patients where they “want and need it” and supporting physicians’ care plans when patients can or will not come into a brick-and-mortar office.
Specifically, the report said that 20% of its MA expenditures can be addressed via home care services. It also said that MA members who received home health from Humana’s Kindred at Home saw 11% fewer readmissions than when they received home health services from other providers.
The report also touted Humana’s partnership with the at-home medical care provider DispatchHealth, saying that the urgent visits the company provides on Humana’s behalf cost 80% less than ER visits.
“New partnerships with organizations focused on primary and urgent care home-based clinical visits provide complementary access points for care to members,” the report read. “These options are particularly suited for members where traditional primary care clinics are out-of-reach because of an inability to find a local physician practice or home-bound status.”
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