Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the home-based care space has seen remarkable advancements. The ensuing public health emergency acted as a catalyst that underscored the critical need for high-quality health care accessible within the comfort of one鈥檚 home.
As a result, at-home care emerged as a lifeline and organizations like 小猪视频 were ready to answer the call.
In this Future in Focus interview, Home Health Care News goes one-on-one with 小猪视频 CEO John Olajide to learn about the transformative impact of the pandemic on health care, the role of technology in advancing home-based care and the critical need to reshape policy to meet the evolving needs of a changing landscape.
HHCN: When we think about advancing home-based care, we can talk about moving the needle with a variety of key decision-makers and gatekeepers. Looking exclusively at the policy space, what are some home-based care advancements you鈥檇 like to see turn into reality?
John Olajide: I want to investigate how policymakers think about our space. How do they understand care in the home? Why is it that in some cases the policy positions or regulatory positions are at odds with what you and I understand to be the preferred place to receive care? It鈥檚 the lowest cost, high touch, surrounded by family members and technologies are enabling better outcomes.
I鈥檝e had several visits with policymakers on both sides of the aisle to understand that and one thing that I realized is that policymakers are thinking about it from a solvency perspective of the entitlement system.
They have data that says it鈥檚 a three-year solvency or a five-year solvency. In our industry we say, 鈥淟et鈥檚 fight for more payments.鈥� But the policymakers only have so many finite resources. The conversations shouldn鈥檛 be about, 鈥淕ive me more, give me more.鈥� They don鈥檛 have enough to give.
Now it鈥檚 about extending the solvency of entitlement systems where we can call on more people and add more value. Beyond this reactionary engagement on a year-to-year basis about a new rule coming out and then we鈥檙e all up in arms about it with lawsuits and marches on the Hill. What I have found is that policymakers are open to solutions. How do we come up with solutions that can increase quality services for more people?
I think there鈥檚 a need to shift that conversation and have a value-based conversation about the value that we can provide.
Then there鈥檚 also advancing home-based care and advocating on behalf of providers in the context of payers, including managed care. What degree of progress has the home-based care field made in communicating their value to payers, in your view?
小猪视频 has been at the forefront of advocating for the industry with policymakers, regulators and engaging payers as well. The reason is this: in some sense, we have an advantage because we see a large section of the entire industry.
What payers want is to provide the best coverage for as many members of their population in the most cost-effective way. Care at home is a very important part of that engagement. We shouldn鈥檛 be just about cost cutting 鈥� it should be a more holistic perspective and care at home providers bring a lot to the table. Beyond saying, 鈥淚鈥檝e allocated a certain segment of reimbursement to care at home.鈥� Why don鈥檛 we open everything up and say, 鈥淗ow can we put the patient at the middle?鈥�
The care at home providers know the patient better than all the other providers because they鈥檙e going into the patient鈥檚 home. They are in the medication cabinet and understand all the social determinants of health. In our case, the benefit of the scale we can provide includes giving pointers to partners to show how they can achieve better outcomes through benchmarking data. We can actually engage with those metrics instead of engaging anecdotally.
It鈥檚 a service that we take very seriously to make sure we鈥檙e advancing what we believe deeply, which is the future of health care being delivered in the home.
Looking ahead again, what鈥檚 on your advocacy to-do list for 2024?
What I want to do is work with all stakeholders to increase access to quality health care at home for people by creating solutions that work. Not just saying, 鈥淗ey, give us more money.鈥� I understand that there are finite resources 鈥� whether it鈥檚 Medicare or Medicaid.
Instead, we鈥檙e asking questions like, 鈥淗ow can we build healthier communities? How can we eliminate the waste that exists? How can we capture this waste and shift it to value creation? I want to make sure we鈥檙e continuing to educate and engage with our policymakers.
Editorial Note: This article was originally published on . We are sharing this piece in two parts; this is part two.