Telehealth’s recent rise in popularity is also impacting how payers view the care landscape, as they leverage technology and data to predict and adapt to beneficiaries needs.
Webinar Presenters:
- Sree Chaguturu: CMO of CVS Caremark
- David Weathington: SVP of Health Plan Operations at Clover Health
- Brett Lotito: VP of Insurance Operations at Oscar Health
- Glen Stettin: SVP and CIO at Express Scripts
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s clear that data is a driver of change. Payers can leverage data and technology to help providers be forward-thinking in their care approach and remedy issues of concern before they arise. During the webinar titled “Payer’s Role in Helping the System Recover from COVID-19,” hosted by FierceMarkets, representatives from insurance companies talked extensively on the decrease of in-person visits during the pandemic.
Trends in Payer Data
- Oscar Health reported a 40 percent drop-off in these rates. Notably, many people with chronic care conditions are deferring care in fear that they might catch coronavirus should they seek care face-to-face. Mining through this data allows providers to prepare for the influx of visitors and severity of care they may need in the later part of the year.
- Clover Health has also witnessed this decline, so the company is sifting through the data it has collected to put people on different treatment plans, based on how frequently they have sought out care.
- Express Scripts has been proactively tracking and tagging patients at risk of deferring and prompting providers to market how they are keeping their space clean.
Leveraging Technology
The CMO of CVS Caremark, Sree Chaguturu, said it’s important to look at data to see where a company may need to strengthen its efforts. For providers, this could be a good incentive for promoting underutilized services that can be delivered through telehealth.
“Some of the things that we also see going to start becoming a part of the new normal is moving as much care out of the facilities to the home as possible,” Chaguturu said.
Virtual Care Champions the Future
From Certintell’s perspective, this trend of declining in-person visits should be a red flag for community health centers. Not only are patients opting-out of some critical health care needs, but the health centers will be substantially hurt financially. By being proactive, community health centers can provide many underutilized Medicare services during these times of need, including Chronic Care Management which can be delivered remotely through telehealth.
In closing and as a parting thought, Weathington stated, “In the coming months, I think you’re actually going to see the desire coupled with outcome on the effectiveness of telehealth.”
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