Opinion: Innovation in Home Care

Time for a New Payment Model

Much of the greatest innovation in industries other than health care deploys technology-enabled approaches to making services more accessible and convenient and lower cost or higher quality. For example, companies such as Blockbuster Video, which provided what seemed like essential services, was supplanted by Netflix, which offered on-demand, personalized viewing of videos from the convenience of home. Uber and Lyft have become quite popular, replacing hailing a taxicab. Similarly, in health care there has been a shift toward provision of home services, with substantial growth in areas such as provision of home infusion therapy and remote monitoring of blood glucose levels. The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has accelerated this shift because care in the home can reduce exposure to potentially infected individuals and help address capacity constraints in health care facilities. However, a common concern has been that payment models have not supported this type of innovation.