As Medicare Advantage providers start to consider the new supplemental benefits granted by CMS for 2019, plans could start to see new perks for enrollees, the New York Times reported.
Some of the new benefits are aimed at keeping patients out of the hospital and ER through more at-home services and products, such as home care aides and home modifications like grab bars, as well as transportation to medical appointments.
“Failure to invest in simple things like safe housing and transportation means you will invest in hospitalization and emergency room visits,” Diane Meier, MD, director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York, told the New York Times.
However, the new benefits also come with a heap of questions about where the new benefits will lead, as the price of MA plan with these expanded benefits is still unknown and will ikely vary widely, according to the New York Times.
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Amy joined TriMed Media as a Senior Writer for HealthExec after covering home care for three years. When not writing about all things healthcare, she fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming a pirate by sailing in regattas and enjoying rum. Fun fact: she sailed 333 miles across Lake Michigan in the Chicago Yacht Club "Race to Mackinac."