MedArrive, Superior HealthPlan, and Brave Health partner to bring home health to Texans

The new program will at first be available to 40,000 Superior Healthplan members

Many of the most vulnerable, underserved, and disengaged populations in Texas, particularly those on Medicaid and Duals, don't have the proper resources and care available to them. That results in them relying on the emergency department to be their primary care physician, even though many of these ED visits are preventable.

That is why Superior HealthPlan, a provider of managed health care programs and services, announced a partnership with MedArrive, a network of trusted EMT providers who act as a bridge between patient and physician, and Brave Health, a virtual mental health provider and engagement platform focused on the Medicaid population to create a new home health program with the aim of helping them to avoid unnecessary trips to the ED.

Working with the MedArrive and Superior Care Management teams, field providers will visit the homes of members who enroll in the program, providing in-home healthcare services, diagnostics, health assessments, and other preventive health measures. Field providers can connect members with physician-led telemedicine services, as well as address needs such as transportation issues, mobility challenges, and nutrition assistance, and they can connect a member to a behavioral health specialist if necessary via Brave Health.

While MedArrive is bringing the actual platform to power these programs, including the labor and technology that enables the scheduling, routing, and logistics, Superior is helping the company reach these populations by identify the populations where it can have the most significant impact.

"We will proactively reach out to members and let them know they are now eligible, at no cost to them. we come into the home, we do an initial assessment and truly understand their needs beyond just the basic historical data we have about them," Dan Trigub, co-founder and CEO of MedArrive, told VatorNews.

"We then see the member sometimes a few times a week along with having conversations with them telephonically via our Case Management team. This program can last for 90 days until we help graduate members once we have addressed their needs."

To start, approximately 40,000 members, who have been identified to have the most critical needs, will have access to this program, though Trigub notes that it can be much bigger than that, as Superior HealthPlan is a managed care organization that provides healthcare to 1.7 million Texas residents.

"We certainly believe we can expand beyond this initial population and do much more as we learn and develop the program," he said.

The partnership between the three companies first developed as MedArrive had a relationship and agreement with Centene, having worked with them in California via HealthNet to provide in-home COVID-19 vaccinations; this program led the company us build a relationship with Centene in Texas via Superior HealthPlan. The company also had success in Texas with another program it was running for Molina, which Tribug says is very similar to what it is doing now with Superior; it had thousands of visits over the last few months servicing similar populations.

Given this prior traction and a strong alignment on our mission, culture, and values, the copany saw this as an excellent opportunity to partner and continue to impact many more lives together, Trigub explained.

"This program allows us to bring quality care into the home with our fantastic workforce of EMS professionals powering the program. We can do this in a way that is scalable and sustainable," he said.

"We also can serve many of the needs these individuals traditionally visit the ED for, including chronic care management, including helping with COPD, CHF, and diabetic care, while also having a more holistic approach to care and helping to address SDoH needs."

The program gives MedArrive a greater view of the patient, simply by being in their home and identifying needs that could not be understood in a clinical setting. That will allow the company to achieve its ultimate goal, which is to reduce emergency department utilization and hospitalizations, and to close SDoH gaps, while also documenting strong NPS scores and member satisfaction. 

"This is the future of healthcare, especially for vulnerable and underserved populations, including Medicaid and Duals," said Trigub.