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Home care is increasingly becoming an appropriate option for patients with chronic illnesses and multiple illnesses who need frequent visits to the emergency room and doctors
Fremont, CA: Patients prefer to receive care in the convenience of their home as it re-emerges as the preferred setting. The pandemic has increased the number of patients who consider home healthcare to be a more comfortable, safe, and convenient environment to receive post-acute and long-term care.
Nevertheless, patients aren't the only ones who recognize this value. Healthcare plans are adopting new models to manage costs and improve quality in response to continually rising healthcare costs. As a low-cost, high-quality alternative to hospital care, home-based care improves patient outcomes while reducing hospital readmissions.
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Health plans are faced with hurdles to overcome as they continue to encourage home-based care. Insurers will need to reconcile three often-overlooked areas in order to maximize the benefits of home-based care services - and ultimately help member’s live healthier lives.
Shift focus to chronic and pre-acute care
In accordance with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, only about 6% of medical spending goes toward home-based care, including home health care, durable medical equipment (DME), and nondurable medical products. Medical equipment and supplies used in the home are typically associated with post-acute care, such as rehabilitation and palliative care. It would be better to offer more pre-acute care at home, as a way to improve patients' health away from facilities and to save money.
Home care is increasingly becoming an appropriate option for patients with chronic illnesses and multiple illnesses who need frequent visits to the emergency room and doctors. Home monitoring and preventive care for patients with diabetes or cancer, for example, can help them avoid hospitalizations and expensive procedures.
Identifying interventions that support chronic care and pre-acute care will be essential for moving more care to the home. The health insurance plans will need to manage equipment and supplies delivered to the home on an ongoing basis rather than treating them as one-time events.
Capture insights in the home
The movement of chronic and pre-acute care to the home offers health plans the opportunity to directly impact their members' care. When will they be able to tell if they have succeeded?
Providers encountering patients at home can provide more insight by capturing more insights. For equipment setup and instructions, as well as to check on patients, clinics and technicians usually make house calls. It is estimated that about 40% of durable medical equipment needs to be set up and supported in person.
Improve quality measures
A growing number of value-based care contracts require providers to measure quality and patient outcomes continuously. However, when a patient is recovering or receiving care at home, it's a black box.
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