The growing ranks of adults helping their aging and ill parents, relatives and friends is a business opportunity that health insurer Highmark is not passing up.
The Pittsburgh-based insurer recently announced it is starting a new "comprehensive caregiver support system" available to members and non-members on a subscription basis for $79 per month.
Called CaregiverHQ, Highmark's new service is targeting the estimated 40 percent of Americans who help care for a chronically ill, disabled or elderly family member or friend. This includes providing care ranging from driving an elderly parent to monthly appointments to acting as a paid in-home services and supports provider – with the average caregiver devoting 20 hours a week, according to Pew Research.
The main feature of the subscription service is a personal care coach, a licensed health professional that works with caregivers over the phone to customize care plans with specific goals and identify healthcare providers and options for transportation, food, legal, and financial services.
The program is also designed to offer caregivers emotional support that can be much-needed while helping loved ones with complex and demanding needs or those at the end of their lives.
"The majority of the solutions in the market are geared toward the recipient of care, with the caregiver often being overlooked," said Philip Tanner, in a media release. Tanner, Highmark's director of the CaregiverHQ service, is the owner and president of a home care company operating in greater Pittsburgh.
The service, already launched with its own website, was developed to "address a market demand for a service that did not exist," Highmark wrote in the media release.
The caregiver support service comes as a wave of aging baby boomers promises to challenge the American healthcare system and younger generations providing support.
In the next 15 years, the country's elderly population is expected to grow by about 35 percent to some 72 million, according to Pew Research.
The AARP pegs the value of unpaid caregiver services at around $450 billion, and also warns employers that their employees providing help to elderly parents or family members can see impacts to their physical and emotional health that turn up in higher-than-average medical claims.
This story is based on a report appearing on Healthcare Payer News.