Collaboration aims to increase affordability by reducing unnecessary emergency room visits and hospital readmissions.
Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah is partnering with DispatchHealth to bring in-home medical care to its members throughout Salt Lake County. This innovative collaboration is part of Regence’s comprehensive alternative site of care strategy to provide members with affordable, high-value and convenient care.
“Regence and DispatchHealth are bringing a better, more affordable health care experience to Utah,” said Dr. Mike Woodruff, executive medical director, Regence. “Through our collaboration, Regence members can conveniently receive high-quality, effective medical care in the comfort of their own homes. This advanced approach can increase access to high-value care, reduce unnecessary ER visits, and significantly improve patient outcomes.”
For the first time in Utah, members at high risk for a return visit after being treated at an ER or hospitalized can receive follow-up care in their own homes through DispatchHealth’s Recovery Care at Home. This service supports efforts to reduce transition-of-care gaps that can occur when patients shift from one care setting to another. Through proactive patient follow up and compassionate at-home care, Regence aims to improve recovery, decrease returns to the ER, and reduce hospital readmissions among its members.
Also, 95% of the most common ER diagnoses can now be treated at members’ homes with DispatchHealth’s Urgent Medical Care at Home. The cost of a convenient, in-home visit is significantly less than an ER visit and, on average, the same as going to an in-network urgent care clinic. By partnering with DispatchHealth, Regence is giving its members an affordable option to get the right care at the right time and in the right location.
Emergency care-trained DispatchHealth clinical teams can treat most non-life-threatening illnesses and injuries as well as acute and chronic health issues for adults and children older than three months. Services are matched to meet the member’s needs, and may include a physician assistant or nurse practitioner, medical technician, or other professionals, physically with the patient and supported virtually by a board-certified emergency medicine physician.
“At DispatchHealth, we believe health care should be accessible and tailored to meet patients’ needs right in their homes,” said Jennifer Webster, CEO for DispatchHealth. “By partnering with Regence, we can support its commitment to providing the Salt Lake community with modern health care solutions that are both compassionate and efficient.”
DispatchHealth will operate two vehicles in Salt Lake County and provide same-day medical services by appointment from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., 365 days a year including holidays. Its teams also deliver complex medical services such as IV infusions that are often more expensive when provided at a medical facility. At-home medical care is now available to most Regence members in Salt Lake County. DispatchHealth also accepts other major insurance plans including Medicare Advantage.
About Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah
Based in Salt Lake City, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah is the state’s first health insurer and now provides more than 702,000 people with comprehensive health insurance solutions. As a taxpaying nonprofit independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Regence is part of a family of companies dedicated to transforming health care by delivering innovative products and services that change the way consumers in Utah and nationwide experience health care. For more information, please visit regence.com, Facebook or Twitter.
About DispatchHealth
DispatchHealth is a leading provider of high-acuity, in-home medical care for people experiencing serious health concerns. The company’s services include Urgent Medical Care, Recovery Care, and Hospital-Alternative Care. DispatchHealth is partnered with most major insurance companies and works closely with primary care and specialty care providers, EMS, health systems, senior living facilities, and employers to deliver in-home care that reduces unnecessary emergency room visits, hospital stays and readmissions. Since the company’s inception in 2013, DispatchHealth has treated 1.2 million people in more than 20 states in the U.S.—generating a 58% emergency room avoidance rate; an 85% reduction in 30-day hospital readmissions; a 98% patient satisfaction rating; and nearly $1.5 billion in medical cost savings. For more information, visit DispatchHealth.com.
DispatchHealth is a separate and independent company that provides in-home urgent medical care in the services for Regence members in their home or other place of residence.
