Recently, Business Wire disclosed news about naviHealth and Cigna-HealthSpring’s partnership to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs in post-acute care for several thousands of Cigna-HealthSpring members located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. A similar partnership took place with Health Alliance Medical Plans earlier this year in April.
NaviHealth is located in Brentwood, Tennessee and is focused on building an efficient post-acute care network (with plan members, hospitals and physician providers) to provide better health outcomes and continual assistance to patients. It utilizes “evidence-based protocols to optimize care and bundled payment methodologies to align all stakeholders,” the company states.
Cigna-HealthSpring, meanwhile, is a health service company based in Nashville, Tennessee whose primary focus is coordinating Medicare Advantage plans. It seeks to expand Medicare offerings to serve a growing aging population.
The new partnership involves naviHealth’s case managers, nurses and licensed therapists who communicate with Cigna-HealthSpring members in hospitals to educate them and their caregivers on their options (and clinical decisions) for post-acute care (PAC) and rehabilitation.
The program will utilize naviHealth’s technology and expertise in post-acute field care management to deliver high quality solutions (based on evidence-based protocols and practices) to Cigna-HealthSpring members receiving Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) care.
The report by Business Wire mentioned that NaviHealth’s philosophy is to intervene early so its team can work with patients and their care providers in SNFs to address the special medical and social needs of its members, post-discharge. The approach utilizes a data-driven care plan to address the patient's identified nursing diagnoses and meet the stated goals towards recovery, monitoring progression of patient care and outcomes. SNF’s are told to keep the care plan updated and revised when there are changes in the patient's condition.
According to Patrick Foley, President of Cigna-HealthSpring’s Mid-Atlantic and Pennsylvania market, partnering with naviHealth will further their goal of improving care delivery and the patient experience across the two regions and will help their members to navigate their options more efficiently once leaving the hospital.
Expected benefits of the partnership for Cigna-HealthSpring and its members include:
- Enhanced care for members and increased patient satisfaction as a result of care managers working with care providers and patients to establish the optimal amount of post-acute services needed to reduce inpatient days and hospital readmissions.
- Improved health outcomes for patients and continual assistance from caregivers through more informed and efficient care delivery, resulting in significant savings and quality for both Cigna-HealthSpring and its members.
Clay Richards, naviHealth president, said that his company is delighted to be working with an industry leader like Cigna-HealthSpring to provide personalized care plans for their members.
He concluded by saying, “This collaboration will ultimately result in better patient outcomes at a lower cost.”
Edited by
Blaise McNamee
