Initial condition Focused Visits designed to help health plan members manage diabetes
DALLAS, September 9, 2024 – Signify Health, a CVS Health company (NYSE: CVS), today announced the launch of condition Focused Visits to provide screenings, preventive care and tailored health education for health plan members managing complex chronic conditions. These in-home Focused Visits are designed to help close quality care gaps, slow chronic disease progression with customized care planning, and reduce hospitalizations and readmissions – all from the convenience and comfort of a health plan member’s home.
Signify Health partnered with Aetna to pilot the first diabetes Focused Visit for eligible members in Florida and Texas, with plans to expand to eight additional states by the end of the year. In 2025 Signify Health intends to offer diabetes Focused Visits across the nation and launch additional condition Focused Visits.
“Our condition Focused Visits allow us to do more for health plan members who manage complicated, chronic conditions,” said Dr. Heidi Schwarzwald, Signify Health’s Chief Medical Officer. “We’re working closely with health plans to make it as simple and convenient as possible to provide members with health screenings and information they can use to improve their health and get the preventive care they need.”
As part of the diabetes Focused Visit Signify Health clinicians bring diagnostic testing to health plan members’ homes where they can capture a complete understanding of each member’s diabetic health status, through screenings such as:
- Diabetic Eye Exam (DEE) for diabetic retinopathy and other eye conditions screening
- Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) for chronic kidney disease screening
- Urine albumin-creatinine ratio (uACR) for chronic kidney disease screening
- Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) for average blood sugar measurement
- Blood pressure testing for cardiovascular screening
These screenings and targeted education moments give members the information and tools to better manage their blood sugar and diabetes, while checking for chronic kidney disease. All data and a summary of the visit are shared with the health plan member’s primary care provider for further care.
In the last 20 years, the number of adults diagnosed with diabetes has more than doubled with nearly one-third of the U.S. population over the age of 65 having diabetes. People with diabetes are also at significantly higher risk of serious health conditions and complications. As a result, diabetes is the most expensive chronic disease in the U.S; however, effective disease management can lower risk and cost.
“There is a great need to improve care quality with bespoke solutions, particularly for complex, chronic conditions that often result in preventable hospitalizations or readmissions, even as we drive to reduce medical costs through routine preventative services,” according to Dr. Schwarzwald.
Signify Health’s Focused Visits reinforce our commitment to doing more for members in the home, including leveraging the immense amount of data collected during the In-Home Health Evaluation (IHE) to identify opportunities to further support health plan members in their health care journeys and help members connect to outpatient services and other resources. Last year, Signify Health was able to positively impact more than 10 million quality care gaps by enabling in-home access to innovative, high-value services to detect health conditions, close quality gaps, increase member satisfaction scores, impact Star ratings, and facilitate care coordination.
Health plan members can visit Signify Health’s online self-scheduling platform to see if they are eligible for an IHE or diabetes Focused Visit. Health plans interested in learning more about IHEs and condition Focused Visits for their Medicare Advantage, Affordable Care Act and Medicaid beneficiaries should contact their Signify Health client success representative, or complete the form on our website.