SCAN Health Plan has been serving numerous counties across California for decades. Now, the Medicare Advantage insurer plans to expand its footprint to two additional states, opening new doors to potential home care partners in the process.
Founded in 1977, Long Beach, California-based SCAN Health Plan is one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit Medicare Advantage plans, serving more than 220,000 members.
On Thursday, SCAN Health Plan announced it would offer new health plans in Arizona and Nevada in 2022. Additionally, the insurer will enter two new California counties, which brings its total reach to more than 5 million potential customers across 17 markets in three states.
“SCAN Health Plan has, through our 40 years, almost perfected the art of senior care and senior health care,” Jill Selby, senior vice president of product development and market expansion at SCAN Health Plan, told Home Health Care News. “Between our quality ratings, our service model [and other] key differentiators, it was the right time to really expand and reach more seniors across the country.”
While SCAN Health Plan has largely focused on California, expansion plans have been in the works since Dr. Sachin Jain took the helm of the organization as president and CEO in 2020, according to Selby.
“Shortly after our new CEO started, he came in and said, ‘SCAN is such a great thing. We need to take it to more seniors,’” she said. “We decided we would start expanding contiguously. Obviously, Arizona and Nevada are very close to California. We’re familiar with those markets, and we have some medical group partners that also do business in those states. It seemed like a natural move.”
In 2022, the organization will offer plans in Clark County, Nevada, and in Maricopa, Pima and Pinal counties in Arizona. In California, SCAN will enter the Alameda and San Mateo counties.
“When you’re doing something right, you want to share it with more and more people,” Jain said in a press release. “For more than four decades, SCAN has set the standard for senior care, and we’re proud to bring our unique benefits that support healthy aging to new communities throughout the Southwest.”
Selby believes the expansion further solidifies SCAN Health Plan’s overall goal of keeping seniors healthy and independent.
“SCAN has always incorporated the philosophy of bringing care to the member, wherever possible,” she said.
In recent years, the organization has also accomplished this goal with the launch of Welcome Health, a geriatric primary care medical group that incorporates both virtual and in-home visits.
“We basically bring the care to the senior, versus having them go to a traditional brick-and-mortar [facility],” Selby said. “[Welcome Health] is meant to bring care to them, so they don’t have gaps in their care plan because they’re unable to go to care.”
While tight-lipped about specifics, the organization has plans to keep expanding into new markets over the course of the next few years.
“I, unfortunately, can’t let the cat out of the bag, but there are plans for additional geographies in 2023,” Selby said. “We already are talking with certain health systems and other states for 2024 and 2025. This is just the beginning of SCAN becoming more of a national Medicare Advantage plan.”