CareCentrix, Horizon Deal Highlights Growing Stature of Home Care

Home care company CareCentrix on Wednesday announced an agreement with the largest health insurer in New Jersey, providing a high-profile example of how home-based care is gaining importance for payers.

Under the five-year agreement, Connecticut-based CareCentrix will manage and deliver transitional care and home health—including infusion services and durable medical equipment—to members of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. 

CareCentrix has a national network of about 8,000 credentialed home care provider locations, and Horizon serves roughly 3.7 million members in New Jersey, according to a press release on the deal.

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“Our agreement with Horizon is yet another confirmation of how home- and community-based solutions are more relevant in helping lower the unsustainable rise in health care costs,” stated CareCentrix Chief Executive Officer John Driscoll, in the release. “CareCentrix has the proven ability to provide consistent and reliable services to assist high-risk and chronic disease patients transition successfully from the hospital to the home, getting the care they need, when they need it, for the right cost.”

Like many payers nationwide, Horizon has in recent years taken steps to control costs and improve outcomes by better coordinating care as patients move among acute, post-acute and home settings. 

The insurer implemented multiple programs that include a care coordination component, and at the end of January expanded these programs to 750,000 members. Its managed Medicaid plan, Horizon NJ Health, has undertaken a managed long-term services and supports program with the goal of enabling more people to stay at home rather than receive nursing facility care.

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Written by Tim Mullaney

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