Minnesota’s Blue Cross Blue Shield is increasing access to care for rural residents through a partnership with remote patient monitoring startup Homeward Health.
Homeward Health uses a combination of mobile clinics, home care, and remote patient monitoring technology to care for underserved patients in rural communities. Blue Cross Medicare Advantage members in 24 Minnesota counties outside the Twin Cities metropolitan area will have access to Homeward services. According to Minnesota’s Blue Cross Blue Shield, two organizations have identified 10,000 members with Medicare benefits statewide who are not currently using existing care systems or are known to have gaps in care.
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“Once we roll it out and we see how it works in some of those early counties, we can find a way,” said Dr. Mark Steffen, medical director of Blue Cross Blue Shield in Minnesota. develop and expand. “We definitely see this as a model that should have legs in the future.”
Steffen says many rural members have to drive more than an hour to get to the in-person supplier. He believes that a hybrid model that combines telehealth with mobile health clinics can help members who have difficulty accessing care.
“The Homeward model represents what it is to really get out there and meet people where they are,” says Steffen.
Former Livongo President Dr. Jennifer Schneider founded Homeward in March 2022 through a $20 million investment in General Catalyst. In August, Homeward won $50 million in a Series B funding round, which helped fund its expansion.
“There is a lot of interest in partnering with innovative providers who are willing to bear the full cost of care,” says Schneider. “Economic incentives in a fee-for-service world are inefficient in rural markets.”
While no date has been set for the start of appointments, Homeward is expected to be up and running this spring. The plan is to expand beyond those 24 counties over time.
This is Homeward’s second deal in the past calendar year. In August, the company announced a value-based partnership with Priority Health, a nonprofit health plan in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The 23-county program in Michigan is similar to the company’s agreement with Minnesota’s Blue Cross Blue Shield.
“Our goal is to collaborate, not replace,” says Schneider. “Partnering with local providers, local health systems and being a complement to.”
Schneider did not cite any specific vendors Homeward would work with for the Minnesota deal.
Homeward will act as the entity that bears the full risk for its patient group. This is needed to improve overall health outcomes and reduce the cost of care for patients in rural areas, Schneider said. According to a 2019 study published in the journal health issues.
“We are the ones willing to provide that care for that allotted amount,” says Schneider. “We get paid when we can provide higher quality care while delivering more efficiently.”
This story first appeared in Digital Health Business & Technology.
