Payer Announces Partnership to Offer In-Home Care with Flexible Hours

Blue Shield of California (Blue Shield) has partnered with an in-home care organization to help members recover from injuries and illnesses.

The goal was to make care more accessible and convenient for members. Blue Shield’s partner in this endeavor is DispatchHealth.

“With our DispatchHealth collaboration, Blue Shield can provide a convenient way for members to access quality care directly in their homes,” said Peter Long, executive vice president of strategy and health solutions at Blue Shield.

“Meeting members where they are and removing barriers to care with quality at-home medical services is part of our mission to provide health care that’s worthy of our family and friends and sustainably affordable.”

The partner organization can serve over 40 health conditions--encompassing infections, respiratory diseases, and chronic conditions--and offers “bridge care,” which helps members transition from inpatient treatment to home healthcare.

Members will be able to access care at a wide range of hours of the day and night. Bilingual care in Spanish and English is available from 8 am to 10 pm every day of the week. Members can receive care the same day that they request it.

In a pilot that the payer did before launching the product to its membership, the payer found that access to care across a broad range of hours was important to members. More than 50 percent of the pilot case’s users leveraged these services after 5 pm. Without this Blue Shield benefit as an option, users may have reverted to using the emergency room, since primary care offices would have been closed after 5 pm.

The service, part of Blue Shield’s Health Reimagined strategy, is available to members in four major California counties—Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Diego. However, there are certain requirements to qualify for this service.

Members must be enrolled in a preferred provider organization (PPO) or health maintenance organization (HMO) plan to be eligible. They also may need a referral, depending on the plan. HMO members need a primary care referral, but PPO and Medi-Cal members in Los Angeles and San Diego counties only need to connect with one of Blue Shield’s customer service lines or DispatchHealth.

“With our DispatchHealth collaboration, Blue Shield can provide a convenient way for members to access quality care directly in their homes,” Long added.

“Meeting members where they are and removing barriers to care with quality at-home medical services is part of our mission to provide health care that’s worthy of our family and friends and sustainably affordable.”