Private Payers News

Health2047 Launches Medicare Advantage Plan to Address SDOH

Zing Health’s Medicare Advantage plan will focus on addressing social determinants of health, joining a trend of plans intending to expand their social determinants of health benefits in 2020.

Medicare Advantage, social determinants of health, Health2047, benefits

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By Kelsey Waddill

- California-based Health2047’s new health plan, Zing Health, will offer a Medicare Advantage plan that aims to address social determinants of health, the company announced.

"Zing Health is uniquely positioned to transform value-based care thanks to its innovative approach, its laser focus on service delivery and its tech-enabled platform that works alongside members and physicians," said Lawrence K. Cohen, Health2047 CEO. "Isolated point solutions in healthcare are not enough – we need effective, transformational change from forward-thinking companies like Zing Health which focus on the entire healthcare ecosystem and address inadequacies, deliver value and produce better outcomes."

Ultimately, Zing intends to help members access care at low or zero cost by improving outcomes through social determinants of health awareness.

The health plan says it is rooted in technology and will work to drive care that is centered on patients, providers, and the community. Conscious of the social determinants of health, the payer aims to cover patients that other plans may overlook.

Zing intends to offer a Medicare Advantage plan that is customizable to its members’ needs, starting by offering plans in the Midwest.

The health plan will establish a local field team that will be acutely aware of the members’ and providers’ environments. Given its proximity to patient populations, the team will have knowledge of the social determinants which affect 80 percent of patient outcomes. Community ambassadors will become familiar with the local resources to assist with this process.

The local field team will not only have a community perspective, but also the clinical connections to ensure that members are receiving proper treatment and follow up care. The health plan intends to make firm partnerships with local providers to establish an effective exchange of information.

The providers will pass on information so that Zing can gain a better perspective on population health and identify potential health risks. In turn, Zing will give providers information and resources relevant to their patients so that providers can continue to deliver high-quality healthcare.

“We are building a program that is affordable, accessible and repeatable anywhere in the United States," said Eric Whitaker, Zing Health co-founder and CEO, in the press release. "We will co-locate care teams with community partners to collect real-time, on-the-ground data about our members and help them achieve their best health possible by ensuring they can access convenient, comprehensive care."

Zing is just one player in a burgeoning trend of Medicare Advantage plans that are covering the costs of social determinants of health, according to a recent report by the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA).

These plans address social determinants of health in a variety of ways like pursuing risk-based contracts with providers, with some payers providing reimbursement for 100 percent of their members’ healthcare costs.