Anthem Plans to Acquire myNEXUS, Expand Home Healthcare Services

Anthem has announced plans to acquire myNEXUS, Inc (myNEXUS) to provide a higher quality of home healthcare services for seniors.

Assuming the closing conditions and procedures continue without any issues, Anthem and myNEXUS leadership anticipate that the deal will be closed in the second quarter of 2021.

“Providing timely care for members in their homes allows for both excellent personalized care as well as the comfort of being in preferred environments,” said Prakash Patel, MD, Anthem executive vice president and president of Anthem diversified business group.

“Bringing the right level of whole person care into the home has been demonstrated to improve outcomes, reduce readmissions and improve members’ and their family’s experience of wellbeing.”

myNEXUS is a home healthcare company that provides integrated nursing management. The company serves around 1.7 million Medicare Advantage members. Its footprint spans 20 states.

However, the payer is positioning itself to expand its home and transitional nursing services to  a national scope.

The home healthcare group also has a platform that automates the home visit authorization process. The platform also enables faster care as it supports both providers and members using advanced data analytics.

“The myNEXUS team is thrilled to be partnering with Anthem to build upon the value we deliver to our customers and their members,” said Juan Vallarino, chief executive officer of myNEXUS. “The strength of Anthem’s Diversified Business Group platform will allow us to broaden our capabilities as we strive to transform how quality healthcare is delivered to the people we serve.”

myNEXUS is currently owned by the healthcare private equity firm WindRose Health Investors. Assuming that the acquisition successfully closes, myNEXUS will become a part of Anthem’s Diversified Business Group as a wholly-owned subsidiary.

Anthem is not the only payer expanding its reach in the home healthcare space.

Given the coronavirus pandemic’s impacts on in-person care, payers have been reassessing their home healthcare strategies.

In September 2020, Aetna announced a partnership with Landmark Health (Landmark) in New York to help Medicare Advantage members with their chronic disease management.

Landmark will offer numerous home-based care services—such as health screenings and home safety checks—to members who have multiple chronic conditions,

“If the pandemic provides more urgency around finding creative ways to support families, to help seniors live safely, individually at home, I think that will be a very positive outcome,” Lauren Casalveri, Aetna vice president and chief Medicare officer in New York, told HealthPayerIntelligence at the time.

Prior to this announcement, Humana initiated a partnership with REACH Kidney Care, a nonprofit affiliate of Dialysis Clinic, Inc.

The partnership aimed to offer support and care coordination for Medicare Advantage members who were homebound and suffering from chronic kidney disease.

“This partnership is part of Humana’s dedication to innovation, especially in meeting care challenges presented by the coronavirus,” Amal Agarwal, MD, Humana’s vice president of transformative home solutions, said in the press release. “We’re committed to offering our members with kidney disease a modern, personalized strategy that provides synchronized care options.”

When it was dangerous to receive in-person support in the home, payers turned to innovative solutions in order to continue administering preventive care. Specifically, a few major payers sent out preventive care kits that enabled recipients to perform screenings for conditions such as colorectal cancer and diabetes.

In each case, the demands of the coronavirus pandemic and the needs of chronic disease management drop payers to bolster their home healthcare strategies.

Although Anthem did not mention the coronavirus pandemic as a tailwind for this next step, actions like Anthem’s potential acquisition of myNEXUS underscore the lasting impact that the pandemic has had on the healthcare industry.