Value-based care will help to push primary care back into the home, according to Homeward CEO Jennifer Schneider, MD.
In a recent McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse Newsmakers podcast, Schneider said chronic conditions, such as diabetes and hypertension, drive up to 80% of all healthcare costs because patients often don’t get the care they need to keep those conditions from spiraling out of control. Such patients need a combination of remote patient monitoring, telehealth and in-home visits to keep them healthy and out of the hospital, she said.
“In the fee-for-service world, reimbursement for those models is not a sustainable practice for the provider,” Schneider explained.
San Francisco-based Homeward partners with healthcare providers and payers to provide value-based care to patients in rural communities. The company recently raised $50 million in funding and signed a deal with Priority Health to manage the care of 30,000 rural Medicare Advantage beneficiaries in rural Michigan.
Homeward uses a combination of telehealth, remote patient monitoring and in-home visits to treat patients. The company also has a partnership with Rite Aid that will connect Medicare-eligible customers in 17 states to Homeward’s clinical services, which include annual wellness visits, screenings and risk assessments.
While telehealth has been increasing patient access to healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic, Schneider said older, sicker patients in rural markets require additional care.
“Telemedicine has been around for a long time and has not cracked the code in rural markets,” Schneider said. “Telemedicine is a piece of the puzzle, but it is not the whole solution.”
Homeward is part of the $510 million U.S. house calls market, which includes in-home primary care. The sector is expected to grow 5.60% at a compounded annual growth rate over the next decade, according to Grandview Research. VillageMD, Heal and DispatchHealth are some of the largest in-home providers in the segment. Last year, Walgreens Boots Alliance disclosed a $5.2 billion investment in VillageMD.
