Magellan Healthcare, the behavioral and specialty health care segment of managed care organization Magellan Health, has rolled out a new program aimed at helping seniors address social determinants of health.
In order to provide these services, Magellan Healthcare has teamed up with digital senior assistant and support tool DOUS. New York-based DUOS was founded in 2020. In April, it closed a $15 million Series A funding round.
As part of the program, members are paired with a personal assistant, or “Duo,” to help them coordinate resources and find support.
“It’s unique in the way that it brings together destigmatized support for social determinants of health as well as pairing to behavioral health services when those are needed,” Dr. Alisa Bahl, chief strategy officer for Behavioral Specialty Health at Magellan Healthcare, told Behavioral Health Business.
Frisco, Texas-based Magellan Healthcare has more than 1,000 employer contracts and 110,000 providers in its network.
So far, there are 1,123 members activated in DUOS the program. Members and their assistant talk weekly. The Duos are focused on identifying seniors’ needs and concerns. They can also flag more serious behavioral health needs for specific patients.
“This is a population where prior to the pandemic, we really saw an epidemic of loneliness,” Bahl said. “Through the pandemic, you saw more people being isolated and also having to navigate the health care system.”
The World Health Organization projects that, by 2030, one in six people will be aged 60 or older. During the COVID-19 pandemic, 46% of older adults reported having infrequent social contact, according to the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation at the University of Michigan.
While the program is designed to help address loneliness and other social determinants of health, patients needing more care can be referred.
“When you think about mental health needs, community support, being engaged in activities, helping to find structure for people’s lives, [this] really helps them to thrive,” Bahl said. “So those are some of the ways that I was thinking about helping support emotional health. There are instances when you are looking at pretty severe isolation, depression, grief or loss in the senior population. That can be a serious concern. So at that time, being able to bring in someone who is a skilled mental health professional can be really helpful.”
In 2021, Magellan and DOUS announced the launch of their pilot program aimed at helping seniors deal with social determinants of health issues.
Magellan reports that the program had an 85% retention rate and a 93% success rate in addressing members’ social determinants of health needs.
“We were so delighted by the results that we wanted to continue it going forward,” Bahl said. “We had the traditional kinds of support for the behavioral health components. Going forward, we’ll be using Magellan provider services, which is a group of externally owned providers who can provide immediate access as needed for help with any kinds of assistance with behavioral health issues that are identified.”
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