Health Plan Weekly

As the COVID-19 crisis tightened its grip on the U.S., industries from restaurants to retail turned to technology to better serve customers who were sheltering at home. Health insurers were no exception, as tech played a major role in their response to the public health crisis. In fact, some insurers took the opportunity to develop new virtual apps or reconfigure existing ones in order to help members face the myriad challenges posed by the new coronavirus.

Two such insurers worked with Microsoft Corp. to bolster their efforts. Most recently, UnitedHealth Group partnered with the technology company to launch a “return-to-workplace” protocol, supported by a smartphone app called ProtectWell, which aims to help companies safely transition their workers back to the office as state restrictions loosen.

To recover from addiction, people with substance use disorders (SUDs) need support from providers and their peers. As quarantine has become a way of life, and gatherings have been banned in most states for the foreseeable future, both are hard to come by. One possible solution is telehealth, but experts say that remote, tech-aided treatment for addiction is still largely unproven — and most payers and providers don’t have experience with it.

“Because of the unexpected nature and unprecedented nature of the situation, there are very limited data on evidence-based approaches on how to treat patients under these circumstances,” said Carlos Blanco, M.D., during a May 18 webinar about continuity of care for SUD patients, organized by the National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM), a health care think tank. Blanco is the director of the Division of Epidemiology, Services, and Prevention Research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a branch of the National Institutes of Health.

✦ Centene Corp. said on May 12 that its Centurion subsidiary will take steps to expand access to telehealth for its incarcerated beneficiaries, address shortages of medical supplies in prison clinics, and offer holistic care for incarcerated beneficiaries. The company anticipates its expansion of telehealth will yield a 200% increase in care capacity and 3,000 more mental health visits per month. In addition, Centene recently launched a pilot program that offers incarcerated beneficiaries access to holistic care such as nutrition advice, preventive care and substance abuse counseling. Read more at https://bit.ly/36gd8Zu.

✦ America’s Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association joined other organizations including the American Academy of Family Physicians and American Academy of Pediatrics in lobbying for more emergency funding for primary care practices. Arguing that the COVID-19 crisis “is leading to the rapid collapse” of many primary care practices, the groups asked HHS “to provide additional funding to independent and community-based primary care practices, including Medicaid providers, through the Provider Relief Fund general allotment as well as through the Public Health and Social Service fund.” Visit https://bit.ly/36qkEkH.

In an open letter to leadership in both chambers of Congress, a coalition of large employers asked lawmakers to take action in the following four areas of health policy as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic:

✦ “Providing affordable coverage in the immediate and longer term;

✦ Ensuring access to primary care clinicians;

Health plan members say they’re not hearing anything from insurers about the COVID-19 pandemic, a new survey shows. But one health insurance insider says it’s possible that many plans have attempted to communicate, but just aren’t doing it well enough to break through.

The survey, from consumer insights and analytics firm J.D. Power, found that 60% of privately insured health plan members say their insurers have not provided any guidance or information related to COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus that has claimed more than 90,000 American lives as of press time. Nearly half — 48% — say their health plan has not shown concern for their health since the pandemic began.