Brian Powers on How Humana Understands Medicare Advantage Enrollees' Social Needs

<p>More than 40 percent of Medicare enrollees are enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, privately-sponsored health plans that provide Medicare benefits often along with other benefits not included in the standard Medicare package such as eye exams, hearing aids, and dental coverage.</p><p><br></p><p>Medicare Advantage is growing rapidly. On the current trajectory, it's likely that the majority of Medicare enrollees will be in MA plans within a year or two.</p><p><br></p><p>Since MA plans are paid on a capitated basis, insurers have a financial incentive to control health care costs. Recently, much attention has been focused on how addressing social needs can yield health benefits, which save MA plans money.</p><p><br></p><p>In order to address those needs, health plans need to know the social needs of their enrollees.</p><p><br></p><p>Brian Powers from Humana joins <em>A Health Podyssey</em> to discuss understanding the unmet social needs of Medicare enrollees.</p><p><br></p><p>Powers and colleagues published a paper in the April 2022 issue of <em>Health Affairs</em> <a href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01547?utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=a+health+podyssey&amp;utm_campaign=april+2022&amp;utm_term=powers">assessing the health related social needs of enrollees in Humana's MA plans</a>. They found significant needs including financial strain, food and utility insecurity, poor housing quality, and unreliable transportation. These needs were distributed unevenly across enrollees by race, socioeconomic status, and sex.</p><p><a href="https://www.pubservice.com/backissue/subbi.aspx?CO=PJ&amp;PC=HR&amp;BI=HRI&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=a+health+podyssey&amp;utm_campaign=april2022issue&amp;utm_content=powers&amp;utm_term=powers">If you enjoy this interview, order the April 2022 issue of <em>Health Affairs for</em> research on access to care, hospitals and more</a>.</p><p>Subscribe: <a href="https://feeds.transistor.fm/a-health-podyssey">RSS</a> | <a href="https: