Patient Engagement
The population health initiative for Medicare Advantage members is a personal check-in on health and well-being and any food, housing or transportation issues.
Walgreens Find Care now includes a COVID-19 risk assessment powered by Microsoft Healthcare Bot on Microsoft Azure.
The data was gathered before COVID-19 began its spread across the globe, meaning the outlook for rural hospitals may yet worsen.
Consumers will feel these increased costs through higher out-of-pocket expenses and premiums, especially if the federal response is lacking.
This is concerning for providers, whose reimbursement is increasingly tied to the 30-day readmissions metric.
More robust SDOH data is not only a care quality consideration, but a business consideration as payers, providers seek a whole-person view.
Since all of the estimates are based on pneumonia, it's likely that costs will be even higher during the coronavirus outbreak.
Epidemiologists have identified those with chronic medical conditions as one of the key groups at risk of poor outcomes from the coronavirus.
At the same time, 64% say they could not afford to pay out their full annual deductible if hospitalized for treatment of the coronavirus.
Health plans will be responsible for data sharing and patient access in a way they're not used to. "A lot will have to go into meeting that deadline," one expert says.