Article
| JUN 22, 2022
That counters Medicare, which has seen drug prices increase more rapidly than inflation—and patients can’t keep up.
Report
| MAR 22, 2022
The “never growing old” generation now faces retirement, a host of chronic health conditions, and mortality. The pandemic sparked a major shift toward digital channels to find health information, assess providers, and research Medicare plans and options.
Article
| JUN 6, 2022
New data reveals teletherapists are less likely to offer services to Medicaid beneficiaries than Medicare patients post-pandemic. We detail what it means for the future of Medicaid.
Article
| MAY 10, 2022
The end of the public health emergency could eliminate telehealth access for many socioeconomically disadvantaged Medicare patients.
Article
| MAY 19, 2022
And MA beneficiaries report a 98% satisfaction rate, according to the Better Medicare Alliance’s 2021 State of Medicare Advantage report.
Report
| NOV 5, 2021
The health system reported that less than a year into the program, its 30-day readmission rate dropped from 16% to 6% among its high-risk Medicare patients. Expanding access to care. The Mayo Clinic adapted its remote chronic care program during the pandemic to monitor lower-risk COVID-19 patients.
Chart
| MAY 16, 2022
Report
| OCT 6, 2021
MA plans are growing in popularity for beneficiaries because they often come with extra benefits over original Medicare, such as vision, hearing, dental, and wellness programs. 42% of all Medicare beneficiaries—more than 26 million people—are enrolled in MA plans, a rate that has steadily increased over the past decade, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF).
Article
| NOV 10, 2021
Article
| JUL 22, 2022
Growing its Medicare patient base. As of last September, One Medical owns Medicare-focused primary care clinic Iora Health. Iora Health serves a massive Medicare base of 38,000 patients—which Amazon can now serve directly. New Medicare patients could also give Amazon a larger audience to market its senior-focused healthcare tools (like its Alexa Together elder care subscription service), too.
Article
| JUN 7, 2022
A lot of insurance companies—not just Medicare—are really keen on supporting groups like ours, and on supporting independent practices so they don't have to sell to the hospital, health system, or private equity firm.”.
Report
| AUG 3, 2022
The number of Medicare Advantage plans offering supplemental benefits directly concentrating on SDOH—including nutritious meal delivery, nonmedical transportation services, and more—has increased by nearly 245% in just one year, from 2020 to 2021, according to an August 2021 Better Medicare Alliance report. SDOH Investments Are Growing.
Article
| JUL 5, 2022
The average hospital stay could run up to $11,700 with Medicare, per Debt.org. Medicare’s prospective payment system (PPS) pays health systems the same amount for a patient's four-day stay or five-day stay, for instance. Any extra day means health systems have to shoulder the cost themselves.
Article
| OCT 26, 2021
A new OIG report details how Medicare Advantage members are far more likely to conduct a home healthcare visit with a provider they don't have a relationship with—good news for startups like Dispatch Health and Heal.
Chart
| APR 5, 2022
Article
| JUN 1, 2022
Rite Aid pharmacists will introduce Medicare customers to Homeward’s annual wellness visits, screenings, and risk assessments. The pharmacy giant will also offer Homeward’s mobile care units in parking lots of select rural Michigan Rite Aid locations. The opportunity: More consumers are tapping retail pharmacies for healthcare services.
Article
| MAY 13, 2022
It has been one of few health systems in federal ACO programs that generate savings for Medicare (based on ability to cut costs and improve quality). Advocate Aurora’s ACOs generated $110 million in savings in 2021, which brought its total VBC savings to over $414 million.
Article
| MAY 6, 2022
The company admitted to dispensing insulin pens that exceeded days-of-supply to avoid Medicaid and Medicare limitations, per the DOJ. That resulted in overbilling the gov’t for insulin shipments between 2014 and 2019. For context, Amazon acquired PillPack in 2018. What this means: The federal gov’t is cracking down on digital pharmacies’ dispensing practices.
Article
| APR 20, 2022
Insurtechs are focusing on Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. This could contribute to high medical expenses. During Q2’21, MA-focused insurtech Devoted Health spent 101% of its health plan premiums it earned. That’s far higher than the 85% insurers typically spend on premiums to keep some profit, per Insider. What’s next? We could see insurtechs scale back their market presence like Bright Health.
Article
| JUL 21, 2021
The retail giant filed paperwork to provide virtual care in 37 states as it decelerates brick-and-mortar expansion plans. We think it could market audio-only visits to its massive Medicare population since pandemic-era coverage for these visits could be permanent.
Article
| MAR 30, 2022
This is a massive problem for older US residents as the Medicare population explodes. The CMS projects Medicare enrollment will increase to 80 million beneficiaries by 2030, up from 54 million in 2015. The big takeaway: Even though competitors like Humana have made major headway in the home healthcare space, UHG is still on track to dominate every corner of the healthcare industry.
Article
| AUG 9, 2021
The number of Medicare Advantage plans offering social health-focused benefits increased three-fold over the past year, but their members aren’t using them—we explore how tech from SDOH startups like Papa can boost uptake.
Article
| MAR 28, 2022
For example, last December, the tech giant unveiled a new Google Search feature that makes it easier for patients to find doctors that accept Medicare. Many Medicare Advantage (MA) patients are willing to see doctors they haven’t had a visit with yet. Only 29% of MA members knew their home health clinician prior to the visit, per an October 2021 OIG analysis of 26 million beneficiaries.
Article
| APR 6, 2022
In September 2020, it struck a deal with Medicare-focused primary care company Oak Street Health to integrate its primary care services into three major supercenters. In May 2021, Walmart acquired telehealth provider MeMd. This gave Walmart the competitive edge of having both in-person and virtual care services.
Chart
| NOV 8, 2021