Zing Health, Story Health Partner To Bring Cardiology Support to At-Risk Members

Insurance company Zing Health has teamed up with digital health company Story Health to provide care to at-risk members with cardiac conditions, the companies announced Tuesday.

Chicago-based Zing Health offers community-based Medicare Advantage plans for seniors with chronic conditions and focuses on underserved populations. It has about 12,000 members across Chicago, Indianapolis and Detroit (it plans to expand into Cleveland, Memphis and Nashville in 2025). Story Health, based in Cupertino, California, provides care to people with cardiovascular issues, such as heart failure, high blood pressure and atrial fibrillation. It offers in-home, virtual and asynchronous support, and works with both payers and health systems.

Through the partnership, Zing Health will identify its members with the greatest risk of poor heart failure outcomes. These members can then enroll in Story Health’s program and get access to a care team that includes cardiologists, cardiac nurse practitioners, registered nurses and health coaches. The team can help answer questions, treat symptoms, access prescriptions, arrange lab testing, provide education on conditions and offer other support. When support isn’t being provided in the home, patients can connect with their care team via text, phone or video. The company also leverages home monitoring devices to keep track of patients’ health between visits.

“We know that these individuals who are enrolling with us have cardiovascular disease, or they have diabetes or they have kidney disease,” said TJ Ackerman, senior vice president of provider and network performance at Zing Health, in an interview. “So for those that have cardiovascular disease, we’ve worked with Story to have what we hope to be a seamless integration, where they enroll, they get a welcome package from Zing, and it’s very clear that we are partnered with Story on managing or helping them manage their cardiovascular needs.”

Story Health’s model of providing care in the home, virtually and asynchronously will be especially beneficial to Zing Health’s members, said Nita Sommers, Story Health co-founder and president.

“I do think Zing serves a really specialized population, a really high-needs population that lends itself well to our model and our support,” Sommers said in an interview. “We have focused on how to work particularly with these kinds of populations that have more trouble accessing the system, whether they’re in areas that don’t have a lot of specialists, or they’re working multiple jobs, or they’re just not well integrated into the current system. The way we deliver care is through models that are more home-based, which are a lot easier for people to access.”

Story Health and Zing Health have a value-based arrangement that will be based on patient engagement, improving health outcomes and reducing inpatient admissions. If Story Health is successful in improving metrics like reducing inpatient admissions, they’ll be able to share in the savings achieved. However, the companies haven’t decided to go into downside risk yet in which Story would be financially responsible if there is an increase in inpatient admissions.

“We don’t want to set either of us up for failure where things don’t go as anticipated and now you’re on the hook for that risk,” Ackerman said.

In working together, Story Health and Zing Health both aim to engage more members into the healthcare system, Ackerman and Sommers said.

Story Health has recently partnered with several other healthcare companies, including Guidehealth, Saint Luke’s and ChristianaCare. With ChristianaCare, Story’s model was proven to improve outcomes for Black patients with heart failure and hypertension. Another company that provides cardiovascular support is CardioOne, while other companies providing in-home care include DispatchHealth and MedArrive.

Photo: metamorworks, Getty Images