Humana closing most SeniorBridge locations to focus on Medicare Advantage plans

Photo: Cecilie Arcurs/Getty Images

Humana has made a decision to close most of its home health SeniorBridge services and concentrate on its Medicare Advantage plans.

A company spokesman said the facilities are being closed, and not sold.

“We introduced a $1 billion value creation initiative earlier this year to increase our investment in our Medicare Advantage products and achieve greater organizational efficiencies that better meet the needs of our evolving business,” the spokesman said. “As part of these efforts, we have made the decision to discontinue operations for our SeniorBridge homecare services and permanently close most SeniorBridge branch locations by the end of this year.”

SeniorBridge in New York will remain open until further notice. 

“We are committed to supporting impacted associates and clients through this transition and will ensure proper continuity of care for clients as they transfer to new providers,” the spokesman said.

WHY THIS MATTERS

SeniorBridge offers in-home care in Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas and Virginia.

The news of the closings comes less than two weeks after Humana announced the continued expansion of its CenterWell Senior Primary Care clinics.

In 2023, CenterWell will open in new markets, including Indiana, Mississippi and Virginia, and expand clinics in seven other states in which centers already exist.

CenterWell intends to open 30 to 35 new senior-focused primary centers in 2023 through a joint venture with private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson and Stowe, Humana said earlier this month.

During the Q3 earnings call held earlier this month, CFO Susan Diamond said the company planned to expand its value-based home health model to cover an additional 450,000 Medicare Advantage members in the fourth quarter, bringing the total covered lives to approximately 15% as of the end of the year.

SeniorBridge closing its Jupiter, Florida, facility has resulted in Humana laying off 150-plus employees, the South Florida Business Journal reported on Monday.

THE LARGER TREND

Humana CEO Bruce Broussard said during the Q3 earnings call that the company was in line to realize its $1 billion goal for 2023, which would support the investments for Medicare Advantage growth.

Diamond said during the call that Q2’s higher-than-expected MA non-inpatient utilization moderated during the third quarter, suggesting that some of the higher trend was likely due to pent-up demand. 

Fee-for-service home health episodic admissions for the third quarter were up 5.1% year-over-year, she said, while total admissions were up 6.4% year-over-year.  Year-to-date episodic admissions were up 3.9% while total admissions were up 5.4%, tracking in line with the company’s full year expectations of a mid-single-digit year-over-year increase.

Home health has been a trending business for many investors.

For instance, in September, CVS Health acquired Signify Health, besting Amazon, UnitedHealth Group and others in acquiring the home health platform. The Department of Justice in October asked for more information on the merger.

Twitter: @SusanJMorse
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