Ohio’s Hospice and Pure Healthcare have been chosen as the preferred hospice and palliative care provider for the Aetna Value-Based Insurance Design (VBID) program in Ohio.

Through the Medicare Advantage (MA) VBID model, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is testing a broad array of complementary health plan innovations designed to enhance the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries, reduce Medicare program expenditures and improve the coordination and efficiency of healthcare service delivery.

Aetna offers its Ohio members facing serious illness the VBID Compassionate Care Transitions program. Through this program, Aetna members are eligible to receive a number of supplemental benefits and can start hospice services while still receiving transitional concurrent care.

Aetna hospice patients are now able to continue their transitional concurrent care, and have access to monthly in-home support services, transportation services, meals and a personal emergency response system device. Aetna palliative patients also have access to transportation services, fall prevention items and a blood pressure cuff. An Aetna case manager is assigned to each patient. Ohio’s Hospice and Pure Healthcare will be working closely with each Aetna case manager to help guide patient care and services.

“Providing compassionate end-of-life care options that respect our members’ dignity and support their families at a critical time is so important,” said Christopher Ciano, President of Aetna Medicare, a CVS Health® company. “We thoughtfully designed our hospice program to ensure members can access important palliative care services before they need hospice. We hope to learn a lot from this opportunity, including how we can continue to reduce social and financial barriers for members choosing hospice care. We appreciate the expertise and passion of Ohio’s Hospice and Pure Healthcare and will work with them to continuously improve the experience.”

Ohio’s Hospice is a partnership of mission-driven, not-for-profit, end-of-life and palliative care providers in Ohio, committed to a shared vision of strengthening and preserving community-based healthcare.

“We are honored and privileged to be chosen as the preferred hospice and palliative provider for the Aetna VBID program in Ohio,” said Amy Wagner, president of Ohio’s Hospice. “As we continue to provide superior care and superior services to communities in the 55 counties we serve in Ohio, 23 of which are served through the Aetna VBID program, we appreciate the opportunity to serve Aetna members in Ohio with hospice and palliative care.”

As Ohio’s Hospice looked to the future, it developed a new offering in healthcare — Pure Healthcare. “It became more important than ever to ensure that the members of the communities we are honored and privileged to serve throughout Ohio are taken care of in a way that matters now and for future generations,” Wagner said. “Through Pure Healthcare, we reset, refocused and fine-tuned the way we approach care to provide the very best quality of care to those living with chronic health conditions.”

Pure Healthcare is supported by palliative care experts. By providing individualized, person-centered education, supportive care and health services, it is maximizing the quality of life for individuals, enabling them to thrive and live independently.

“At Pure Healthcare, we value the unique circumstance of each person we serve, and we develop an individual-based plan for areas they define as most meaningful to improve health and quality of life,” said Anthony Evans, president of Pure Healthcare. “Millions of Americans get up every day and face the challenge of living with a chronic illness. It’s our mission at Pure Healthcare to help them overcome that challenge by providing the support and resources they need to live each day to the fullest.”

Evans spoke highly of Ohio’s Hospice and Pure Healthcare’s experience with Aetna. “Our VBID experience with Aetna has been wonderful,” he said. “The Aetna leadership team has been highly engaged with our clinical teams to learn about our advanced care model. They have been amazing to work with and are very supportive of our holistic approach to care. It’s clear that Aetna wants the best benefit possible for their members, and we feel very blessed to be partnering with them for this important work.”   

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