Social isolation is a significant detriment to health and has become a prime area of focus for most Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. As home care providers increasingly seek out MA opportunities, they’re poised to help mitigate America’s senior loneliness epidemic.
Throughout 2020, the COVID-19 emergency has placed a spotlight on the unique ways that seniors are especially susceptible.
Specifically, social isolation impacts roughly 43% of people 65 and older on a regular basis, Robin Caruso, coordinator of Anthem Inc.’s (NYSE: ANTM) Member Connect program, said during the Home Health Care News Medicare Advantage for Home Care Virtual Summit.
“There’s the one statistic, that it’s like smoking 15 cigarettes a day. … [Social isolation] increases your mortality rate by 45%,” Caruso said “That’s quite significant. You’re more likely to die of loneliness than obesity, and it can increase the onset of cognitive decline. There’s also a strong correlation with chronic disease.”
Indianapolis-based health insurer Anthem serves more than 43 million within its family of health plans.
In order to tackle social isolation, Anthem created its Member Connect program. The program focuses on engaging members in their health, connecting them to social resources and keeping them physically active.
“We started with just a friendly phone call,” Caruso said. “My staff, we call them social care partners, get to know [our members] and develop a relationship.”
These calls range from Anthem’s social care partners helping guide members about durable medical equipment, to talking to them about depression and ensuring they are matched with the right professional counselor.
Additionally, Anthem set up a volunteer “phone pal” program that allowed associates in other departments at the company to adopt a member and make these regular check-in calls. In turn, this allowed Anthem to reach more members during the public health emergency.
Papa — a company that has based its model on providing seniors on-demand companionship — has been ahead of the curve in terms of prioritizing loneliness among this population.
“We really tackle it in a nuanced way,” Papa founder and CEO Andrew Parker said at the HHCN event. “We use technology throughout everything we do.”
That technology allows Papa to identify potential health hazards in the home, such as fall risks or a lack of groceries for the week, he explained. Essentially, it turns “Papa Pals” into well-informed in-home observers.
Founded in 2017, Miami-based Papa is a membership-based platform that mostly connectsPapa Pals and older adults. Aside from companionship, Papa Pals provide seniors general assistance, including transportation services and similar task-based help.
As a company, one of Papa’s goals is to help lower the chance of hospitalization. Though Parker has always clarified that Papa isn’t a home care provider, the ability to help keep seniors out of the hospital is something the company has in common with agencies.
Whether it’s Papa or the traditional home care agencies, companionship services have always played a role in curbing social isolation — making these organizations a natural fit for partnerships with MA plans.
Still, this hasn’t always resulted in providers receiving recognition. This has slowly begun to change as more MA plans work with providers.
“More plans are recognizing that supplemental services can indeed impact costs, meaning reducing hospitalizations and things like that,” Vicki Hoak, executive director of the Home Care Association of America (HCAOA), said at the HHCN event. “This is something that’s only going to grow.”
Washington, D.C.-based HCAOA represents nearly 3,000 companies that employ more than 500,000 caregivers.
For home care companies looking to enter into partnerships with MA plans, Caruso advises taking the Papa approach of paying attention to seniors’ living conditions and circumstances.
“We’re looking to partner with those agencies that are innovative and looking at ways to better meet the needs of our seniors,” she said.
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