CVS Health has made good on its commitment to push primary care even further into the home, announcing Wednesday a new partnership between Aetna Better Health of Florida and Emcara Health. Tennessee-based Emcara will provide in-home primary care, behavioral assessments and social determinants of health assessments to adult Aetna Medicaid members.
“For many of our members, including those with chronic and complex conditions, receiving coordinated and holistic health care where they are is essential for improving their health and quality of life,” Aetna Better Health of Florida CEO Jennifer Sweet said in a statement. “Our new value-based collaboration with Emcara Health will combine direct care delivery, attention to social care needs and 24/7 support to improve health outcomes and reduce cost of care.”
Emcara is launching the service to Aetna Medicaid members in Tampa Bay, Orlando and the Miami-Dade area. Multidisciplinary teams comprising physicians, community health workers, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, physical and behavioral health coordinators and clinical social workers will deploy into homes. The teams will collaborate to remove barriers to healthcare, such as transportation, food access and behavioral health.
The partnership comes exactly one month after Aetna’s parent, CVS Health, announced the $8 billion purchase of Signify Health, a tech-enabled home health firm specializing in value-based care. Just days after that announcement, CVS Health CEO Karen Lynch told investors at the Morgan Stanley Global Health Conference the Signify deal was only the start of the company’s ambitious plans to provide in-home care to more customers.
“We have the reach. We have the engagement. We have digital connections. We have the retail connections. We have the home connections,” CVS Health CEO Karen Lynch told the audience last month. “We can meet consumers wherever they are on their entire health journey.”
CVS Health is among a diverse number of companies jumping into the $500 million house call market. Last summer, Amazon announced the acquisition of in-home primary care firm One Medical for $3.9 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a partnership with VillageMD to provide in-home care to customers. CEO Rosiland Brewer told investors earlier this year the company was on the hunt for another acquisition to help it push deeper into the home.
