Medicare Advantage

Through VBID Model, MAOs Tailor Interventions to Enrollees’ Evolving Social Needs

From CMS’s expanded definition of primarily health-related supplemental benefits to the introduction of Special Supplemental Benefits for the Chronically Ill (SSBCI), Medicare Advantage plans have gained increasing flexibility over the last few years to offer supplemental benefits that can address social needs. Through the ongoing MA Value-Based Insurance Design (VBID) model — the only MA-focused demonstration being tested by the CMS Innovation Center — MA organizations have even more flexibility to target and tailor a variety of interventions. During a recent virtual panel of the Fourth National Medicare Advantage Summit, several longtime participants of the model agreed that such flexibility is critical to meeting beneficiaries’ evolving health-related and other social needs.

CMS first tested the model on a limited basis in 2017, allowing sponsors to offer reduced cost sharing for medications and offer high-value services to beneficiaries with select chronic conditions. Today, the model allows MAOs to tailor their MA plan offerings using several approaches and has 52 MAOs offering services to an estimated 6 million enrollees.

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© 2024 MMIT

Reporting 1Q Earnings, Select ‘Insurtechs’ See Brighter Days Ahead With Focus on MA

Still intent on standing apart from established Medicare Advantage competitors with their use of technology, Medicare-focused “insurtechs” Alignment Healthcare, Inc. and Clover Health Investments Corp. recently reported first-quarter 2023 earnings that showed shrinking losses and increasing insurance revenue. While both insurers are focused on retaining and/or growing their MA membership, fellow startup Bright Health Group, Inc. will soon shed its MA business — its last insurance asset — to continue growing its noninsurance segment focused on value-based care (VBC) delivery.

Declaring a “strong start to the year,” Alignment Healthcare, Inc. on May 4 posted first-quarter revenue of $439.2 million, reflecting year-over-year growth of 27.1%. That was aided largely by a nearly 21% jump in health plan premium revenue to $399.7 million as MA membership climbed 16% to 109,700 lives, the company reported.

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News Briefs: CMS Reinterprets ‘Marketing’ Definition, Expands Materials Subject to Review

As CMS continues to tighten oversight of misleading marketing activities, the agency will soon require Medicare Advantage organizations to file all materials that mention any type of benefit. In a May 10 memo from the Medicare Drug & Health Plan Contract Administration Group, CMS explained that while it previously interpreted the mentioning of widely available benefits (e.g., vision, dental, premium reductions) as “general descriptions” that were not “made with sufficient intent to draw attention to a particular plan or subset of plans” and lead to an enrollment decision “without information on the associated costs for enrollees,” complaints received through various channels have indicated otherwise. Therefore, CMS is expanding its interpretation of “marketing” to “include content that mentions any type of benefit covered by the plan and is intended to draw a beneficiary’s attention to plan or plans, influence a beneficiary’s decision-making process when selecting a plan, or influence a beneficiary’s decision to stay enrolled in a plan (that is, retention-based marketing) and thus subject to review.” As such, the agency will require any material or activity that is distributed by any means and mentions any benefit to be submitted into the Health Plan Management System effective July 10.

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Reporter’s Notebook: National MA Summit Speakers Debate Imminent Risk Model Changes

Whether Medicare Advantage insurers like it or not, a host of changes are coming their way that will impact risk adjusted revenue starting in 2024 and could have downstream effects on beneficiaries and providers. The forthcoming overhaul of the CMS-Hierarchical Condition Categories (HCC) risk adjustment model, which will be phased in over three years starting in 2024, was arguably the hottest topic over four days of sessions at last month’s Fourth National Medicare Advantage Summit, where industry experts’ views on the model ranged from supportive to reproving.

MA plans next year can expect to receive, on average, a 3.32% increase in risk adjusted revenue, driven in part by an underlying coding trend of 4.44%, CMS estimated in a fact sheet on the final 2024 MA and Part D rate notice. With that notice, CMS finalized plans to remove thousands of diagnosis codes mapped to HCCs for payment, transition to the use of ICD-10 codes and update the underlying fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare data years. CMS has explained that the new model is intended to reflect the cost of care more accurately by using the more commonly used ICD-10 system and addressing discretionary coding (i.e., upcoding) that leads to wasteful spending.

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News Briefs: Senate Panel Advances PBM Reform Bill

Following a hearing on insulin costs in which senators from both political parties grilled PBM executives, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Reform Act of 2023 (S. 1339). The legislation would ban spread pricing, introduce a host of transparency requirements, and compel PBMs to pass on rebates and fees they collect to their health plan clients, Pink Sheet reported. However, HELP Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) would not allow a vote on an amendment that would prohibit PBMs from charging administrative fees based on a percentage of a drug’s list price, as that amendment did not yet have a Congressional Budget Office score. The measure passed on an 18-3 vote with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) voting no.

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Oscar, Clover, Bright Detail Downsizing Efforts in 1Q Earnings Calls

Not one, not two, but three insurtechs that have gone public in recent years reported their first-quarter earnings on May 9 — and each took the opportunity to detail how they’re stepping away from unprofitable parts of their businesses and focusing on ventures that can help put them in the black.

“Oscar is in a very different place than we were a year ago,” newly minted CEO Mark Bertolini said during Oscar Health Inc.’s earnings call.

“A year ago, we were focused on absorbing our increased scale and ensuring that our operations could handle a sizable increase in growth,” continued Bertolini, the former Aetna CEO who left the company after its acquisition by CVS Health Corp. “Today, we are focused on advancing the capabilities and technology to best serve our members and have been able to shift our attention to implementing a series of initiatives aimed at improving the efficiency of our operations.”

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© 2024 MMIT

Newly Closed Purchases, ACA Exchange Member Surge Color CVS 1Q

Due to the early close of its deal to purchase Oak Street Health, CVS Health Corp. when reporting first-quarter 2023 results said it would lower its full-year earnings per share (EPS) estimate from a range of $8.70 to $8.90 down to $8.50 to $8.70. Yet that short-term headwind is a small price to pay for the long-term benefits of the transaction combined with another recently closed deal to buy Signify Health, CEO Karen Lynch said during the company’s May 3 earnings call.

“These acquisitions significantly advance our value-based strategy by adding primary care, home-based care, and provider enablement capabilities to our platform,” she said. Moreover, “the combination of Signify, Oak Street and CVS Health creates a value-based, person-centered care platform propelled by the powerful connections between our unique capabilities and assets. This will enable us to drive better patient experience and health outcomes while delivering on our long-term financial goals.”

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© 2024 MMIT

As the Insurtech World Turns: Bright, Clover Disclose Deals, Lawsuits, Layoffs

Recent weeks have brought both good and bad news for insurtechs, with Bright Health Group, Inc. appointing a new chief financial officer, putting its last health insurance asset up for sale, and disclosing that it’s being sued by a provider group for unpaid claims. Clover Health Investments Corp., meanwhile, revealed that it will outsource its core insurance operations to a technology vendor, cut 10% of its workforce, and settle one of a series of shareholder lawsuits filed against the company.

Industry observers tell AIS Health, a division of MMIT, that the net effect of those developments isn’t yet clear, but one thing is certain: The Bright and Clover sagas are far from over.

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Michigan, Vermont Blues Team Up to Broaden Tech, Service Offerings

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont, the largest health insurers in their respective states, have struck an agreement that will see the Vermont Blues plan become a subsidiary of BCBS of Michigan. The nonprofit companies said in a May 1 news release that this deal “is an affiliation, not an acquisition, which means there is no financial exchange between the organizations.”

The plans’ boards of directors have approved the agreement, which still needs to be approved by state regulators. A BCBS of Michigan spokesperson tells AIS Health that the regulatory process “will take several months to complete.” If the deal closes, the insurers will share technology platforms and other service offerings, among other collaborations.

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Highmark Tailors ‘Big Blue Box’ to Meet MA Members’ Evolving Needs

In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many people were having trouble accessing basic personal protective equipment, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield began sending out care kits including PPE and other items to support seniors at home. The response from Medicare Advantage members was so positive that what started out as a feel-good gesture has become a full-blown supplemental benefit, and the insurer continues to refine the kits to meet members’ evolving needs and ensure continued satisfaction with the plan.

Starting with plan year 2022, eligible Highmark members were given the option to receive one of 17 condition care kits. Commonly referred to as the “big blue box,” each kit is filled with a variety of items tailored to a specific condition, with a focus on member choice and high quality, speakers from Highmark and its strategic partner RR Donnelley explained during the 14th Annual Medicare Market Innovations Forum, held on March 28 and 29 in Orlando. RR Donnelley, a firm that provides marketing and business communications, commercial printing, and related services, has assisted CVS Health Corp.'s Aetna and Humana Inc. with similar initiatives.

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