UnitedHealthcare and Ready Responders, an on-demand network of health care practitioners, launched a pilot program in Louisiana that provides at-home health services for non-emergent or nonlife-threatening medical issues for UnitedHealthcare’s Community & State and Employer & Individual members. Through the program, practitioners visit patients in their homes to help increase access to care and reduce long wait times and high costs of emergency services.
From 2015 to 2017, UnitedHealthcare's Medicaid plan in Louisiana experienced a 15 percent increase in emergency room visits using ambulatory care. UnitedHealthcare’s collaboration with Ready Responders aims to reduce reliance on emergency rooms and lower hospital admissions to help lower the state's health care costs for Medicaid beneficiaries. The pilot program is available for Medicaid and commercial members in the New Orleans area enrolled in UnitedHealthcare Medicaid, Employer and Individual health plans. Services through the program typically cost less than emergency visits.
Through the pilot program, plan participants call the hotline about an illness or injury and request a practitioner to visit their home. Upon arrival, the health professional assesses the patient's condition and determines what type of triage care is needed onsite, or whether care may be needed in another setting such as urgent care, their primary care provider or the ER. Ready Responder also provides telehealth services in which onsite medics can connect patients to other qualified local physicians via the medic's mobile device or tablet. In some cases, Ready Responders will be able to help patients arrange transport to their doctor's office.
Ready Responders does not replace 911 for life-threatening emergencies. UnitedHealthcare also encourages members to connect with their primary care physician for appropriate follow up after any care accessed through the program.
For more information on the pilot program, please contact your local UnitedHealthcare representative.