Heal’s Home-Based Care Model Aims to Reduce Senior ER Use
As visits to hospitals and outpatient clinics have become sources of anxiety for patients worried about exposure to the novel coronavirus, plans and providers alike have begun to make major investments in home care. One such plan is Humana Inc., which announced a $100 million investment in home primary care startup Heal Inc. last month. Heal CEO Nick Desai tells AIS Health his company will aid Humana’s long-term strategy to reduce the cost of care and improve quality.
Heal’s model places patients with a consistent primary care physician who makes house calls. The doctors are dispatched and routed using an app and driven to visits with a medical assistant, and they input notes and update care plans into an electronic health record between visits. According to Desai, the company’s physicians typically see 10 or fewer patients per day and spend 30 minutes to an hour with each.