Humana hopes to be the rising tide that lifts all boats in the home healthcare industry. That is what Humana Senior Vice President of Home Care Kirk Allen suggested to McKnight’s Home Care Daily on Friday. The company’s efforts to change the way healthcare is delivered in the U.S. will benefit both the home care and home healthcare industries, he said.
“The strategy really is to advance the value-based care model, and because we’re doing it at scale, it will grab the attention of the industry and it will help the industry move in that direction,” Allen said. “We will continue to work with other home health agencies.”
In April, Humana shook up the home health industry when it announced it would fully acquire Kindred at Home, a home healthcare firm with 350 locations in 38 states.
Last week, the Louisville, KY-based health and well-being company made more waves when it announced it would extend its reach with the acquisition of One Homecare Solution, known as onehome, a value-based, full risk model that provides a range of post-acute needs, including in-home infusion and medical equipment. The company said the acquisition advances a strategy of creating cost-effective care that is designed around patient outcomes and is delivered through onecare and Kindred at Home.
Size and scale
Humana certainly has the scale to potentially change the industry. Over the past few years, it has grown its Medicare Advantage membership nearly 15% to 4.8 million members and nearly doubled its Medicaid membership to 872,000.
The scale Humana is developing will help it expand into other services as well. During an investor day conference last week, the company said it was looking to collaborate with kidney care companies on interventions to help the 37 million Americans afflicted with renal kidney disease. It could also provide more acute care services through its partnership with primary care providers Heal and DispatchHealth.
“We take a look at the member experience in totality. We would be wanting to connect all of the parts of Humana that can influence that member’s care, including our Humana at Home care management assets,” Allen said.
Skilled nursing a target?
Allen wouldn’t rule out Humana possibly getting into skilled nursing. He said if the company saw nursing home utilization increase among its member base, then it might make sense to include skilled nursing in its care continuum.
“We do believe there can be innovations in the home where services that have maybe been provided in other environments could be provided in the home to recognize the higher intensity of services. We do believe that innovation is possible to broaden the reach of home care,” Allen said.
