In a push to make Medicaid part of the conversation at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, former acting head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Andy Slavitt took part in a Medicaid Forum at Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco. Currently a senior adviser to the Bipartisan Policy Center, Slavitt sat down for a short interview with Abner Mason, founder and CEO of ConsejoSano, a Los Angeles-based startup that focuses on healthcare navigation for Medicaid patients with an eye to people who speak Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin and Arabic.
Mason noted that with one out of four Californians on Medicaid and one in five Americans or nearly 70 million on Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicaid should be a topic addressed at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference but it never is.
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“I didn’t want to come to another J.P. Morgan event and not have Medicaid be part of the conversation,” Mason said. “We didn’t know we would get the kind of response we would get, but that room is full beyond anything we expected. There is an energy people have now to do something. We want to make sure we are collectively working to protect Medicaid,”
Slavitt highlighted some of the startups that he thinks are doing a good job of addressing the needs of Medicaid patients.
“If you have two different people with the same disease, it costs a lot more to take care of someone if they have housing insecurity, food insecurities, if they don’t have access to transportation to pick up their medications,” Slavitt said. “And as a result, if they show up in ER after they haven’t taken their medication, you have to manage back a situation that’s much more challenging.”
He identified major intervention areas such as helping people on dialysis improve the way they manage their condition particularly dialysis patients.
Population health dialysis management business Somatus, based in Vienna, Virginis near Washington D.C., provides managed kidney care services for patients with chronic kidney disease and early stage renal disease patients covered by ACOs, insurers, and providers bearing payment risk for these patients, according to an emailed summary of the business. Somatus uses software tools and on-the-ground teams to provide “concierge” kidney care for referring primary care physicians. Physicians provide psychosocial and clinical needs assessments, CKD education, renal nutrition and renal social care services, in-home and post-acute care visits.
“The way we take care of people on dialysis is shameful,” said Slavitt. “We barely keep them alive, instead of keeping them healthy, keeping them at home, keeping them more frequently dialysized and getting them on transplant lists.”
ConsejoSano Medicaid patients are its main area of interest, particularly those who have difficulty navigating the American health system. It provides a text message services in Spanish, Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin and other languages that include alerts about upcoming appointments and tasks they need to do that are culturally appropriate. One area of interest is ensuring that infants get their vaccines before they are 2 years old. They also help members set up appointments for breast cancer and prostate cancer screenings. It also partners with companies to provide services to patients such as transport.
Cityblock Health is focused on moving care into the community. The company came together through Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs. The business is planning to launch a neighborhood health hub this year. Care teams made up of people with experience in managing chronic conditions, behavioral health, social work and medical professionals, work with members to develop a Member Action Plan. It is led by CEO Iyah Romm, who previously served as chief transformation officer for the Commonwealth Care Alliance in Massachusetts. Slavitt is on its board.
He also made note of Circulation Health, a non emergency transportation company to get patients to medical appointments medications to customers.
Slavott pointed out that the common theme these companies have is that they provide much-needed services behind their technologies.
“There is room for cool innovation. What is Air BnB doing? What do all these companies do? They logistically give people more opportunities — these are companies that are about improving people’s lives. Is Uber a tech company? Is Air BnB a tech company? In a matter of speaking, yes, they are but it is really about identifying services to make people’s lives better.”
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