Radar on Medicare Advantage
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PHE Unwinding Delay Gives States, MCOs Time to Ease Transitions
With radio silence from HHS on May 16 — when states at the very latest had expected to hear whether the COVID-19 public health emergency would end in July — HHS at press time appeared to be gearing up for another extension of the PHE. This will give states, insurers and other stakeholders more time to prepare for the inevitable resumption of Medicaid eligibility redeterminations, which could cause millions of adults and children to lose health insurance coverage.
The PHE has been extended multiple times since the start of the pandemic and remains a moving target. As a condition of receiving enhanced federal funds during the PHE, states have been required to ensure continuous Medicaid and CHIP coverage for most enrollees by pausing eligibility redeterminations. And the Biden administration has promised to provide states 60 days’ notice before any possible termination or expiration. But without such notification, sources estimate the next end date could be Oct. 13. Bloomberg on May 16 reported that the PHE would be extended past mid-July, “according to a person familiar with the matter.”
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Medicaid Rolls Soar to Nearly 89 Million Beneficiaries as Redeterminations Loom
Nationwide Medicaid enrollment has grown more than 22% since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, topping 88.7 million lives, according to the latest update to AIS’s Directory of Health Plans. But the end of the Public Health Emergency (PHE) — which at press time was likely to be extended beyond mid-July — could leave between 5.3 million and 14.2 million people without coverage when redeterminations resume, asserted a May 10 analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation. A separate study from the Georgetown University Heath Policy Institute found that 6.7 million children stand to lose CHIP coverage at the end of the PHE. See a state-by-state overview of three years of pandemic-fueled Medicaid enrollment changes in the chart below. -
Segmented, Personalized Outreach Drives MAO Retention Efforts
Medicare consumers are facing an overwhelming variety of resources and plan choices and are showing signs of increased movement during the Open Enrollment Period (OEP). As a result, effective member engagement during the OEP and throughout the year is becoming increasingly important and can be achieved through using data to segment membership and deliver targeted, personalized messaging to ensure that a member is in the right plan from the start, industry experts advised during the 13th Annual Medicare Market Innovations Forum, hosted by Strategic Solutions Network, LLC (SSN).
After the Medicare Annual Election Period (AEP) that typically runs from Oct. 15 through Dec. 7, the three-month Medicare OEP starts on Jan. 1 and allows beneficiaries who selected a Medicare Advantage plan to make a onetime coverage change. This year was the fourth OEP since it was reinstated by the Trump administration after a hiatus, and seniors’ utilization of the renewed opportunity is growing.
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WellCare Kept PDP Enrollees Via ‘Conversational’ Outreach Pilot
A pilot with Drips’ trademarked “conversational texting” platform has helped WellCare significantly lower the percentage of Prescription Drug Plan policies that were being terminated due to nonpayment, according to a case study presented at the 13th Annual Medicare Market Innovations Forum, held May 11 and 12 in Phoenix.
Since WellCare was acquired by Centene Corp. in January 2020, the PDP team has been focused on “optimizing operational execution” and ensuring a positive member experience, said WellCare Senior Director of Prescription Drug Plans Talia Duany, who presented the case study with Drips. “When you’ve got 4.1 million members in an industry that’s shrinking — this year we saw the biggest [decline] in available PDP options, everyone’s moving into [Medicare Advantage] — having a robust member retention strategy” is critical.
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News Briefs: Second WCAS-Humana Joint Venture Will Deploy $1.2 Billion for Primary Care Clinics
Humana Inc. on May 16 said it had established a second joint venture with Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS) to further expand its value-based primary care clinics. (Hg Capital Partners and WCAS share control of MMIT, the parent of AIS Health.) The new JV will provide up to $1.2 billion of additional capital for the development of approximately 100 new CenterWell Senior Primary Care Clinics between 2023 and 2025, said Humana. The expansion follows an earlier JV that is currently deploying up to $800 million of capital to open 67 clinics by early 2023 and support their ongoing operations, added the insurer. WCAS will have majority ownership of the JV, while Humana will own a minority stake.

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