AHIP Panelists: Improving Aging in Place Requires Cross-Stakeholder Support

When it comes to aging in place, seniors in the U.S. have a hodgepodge of programs and services available to them, and health plans can be a connector to and integrator of those services in their respective markets. Speakers at AHIP’s 2024 Medicare, Medicaid, Duals & Commercial Markets Forum, held March 12 to 14 in Baltimore, agreed that health plans can also play a valuable role in driving innovations across the Medicare and Medicaid programs, such as providing emergency and acute care in the home, supporting family caregivers, and advocating for policy solutions.

Before CMS in 2020 introduced the Hospital Without Walls program enabling health systems to provide acute hospital care in the home, integrated insurer-provider Kaiser Permanente (KP) launched the Advanced Care at Home (ACAH) model. One of several KP initiatives that support aging in place, ACAH leverages expert care teams and technology to provide 24/7 physician-led acute care and coordinate patients’ recovery in the familiar setting of the home. Eligible patients are identified in urgent care, emergency and/or inpatient settings but must also meet certain social and clinical criteria, explained Rachna Pandya, regional strategic implementation leader of Medicare operations and strategy, during the session, “Best Practices to Support Aging in Place.”