ORANGE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Alignment Healthcare, a mission-based Medicare Advantage insurance company founded in 2013, today announced urgent new COVID-19 relief efforts for both its members and the general public. Above and beyond full compliance with measures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Alignment has launched two signature programs to address critical medical and social challenges Americans are now facing. The first is the AVA™ Personalized COVID-19 Risk Assessment tool, which provides personalized results and is now available to the general public at www.alignmenthealthcare.com. The other is a crisis meal delivery program, providing two weeks of meals to members who cannot otherwise access food.
“As information about COVID-19 quickly changes, many people may become overwhelmed and left confused about their own health status amidst the crisis,” said Hakan Kardes, chief data officer, Alignment Healthcare. “To give the public reliable and personalized data – and the peace of mind that comes along with that – we used our expertise in analytics to deploy an online risk assessment for COVID-19. The tool not only gives personalized results, but also shares recommended actions and support.”
The AVA™ Personalized COVID-19 Risk Assessment tool poses a series of questions to deliver an instant, personalized risk assessment. The questions are driven by algorithms that account for factors such as exposure levels and current symptoms, and are automatically updated as new data around COVID-19 becomes available. The results are accompanied by actionable recommendations, which may include contacting a primary care physician or seeking out a testing center. Alignment members can also use their telehealth benefit or contact their 24/7 concierge team to discuss the results and any necessary next steps.
“Beyond providing clinical support for COVID-19, we could not ignore the additional challenges our members now face, especially that of food insecurity as seniors are left to fend for themselves or risk exposure at public grocery stores,” said John Kao, CEO, Alignment Healthcare. “That’s why the team at Alignment mobilized quickly to deploy a volunteer meal delivery program. Our goal is to reach as many people as possible with needed support, so in addition to fulfilling inbound requests, our team is proactively reaching out to members we believe to be most at risk.”
Alignment’s crisis meals program leverages a trained corps of more than 50 volunteers – including Alignment employees, network providers and broker partners – to deliver a two-week supply of prepared meals to Alignment members who qualify, including those who live alone, live below the poverty line, or do not have other means of accessing food. To date, Alignment has served nearly 3,000 meals to members in need, working with its partners, Mom’s Meals and Meals on Wheels Orange County. Adhering to protocols from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Alignment team is safely delivering more than 400 meals a day throughout California, including to Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and Santa Clara. The health plan is also working quickly to extend the program to more of its communities in California and North Carolina.
These programs are in addition to other COVID-19 related support in place for Alignment members, including:
- Proactive outreach to highest risk members using insights from AVA™, Alignment’s data and technology platform
- $0 copay telehealth visits
- $0 cost for necessary COVID-19 testing
- Waiving early medication refill limits on 30-day prescription maintenance medications and encouraging members to use their 90-day mail-order benefit
- Regular member virtual town halls to answer member questions, and to provide resources around key issues such as exercise and loneliness
Alignment’s support and resources for COVID-19 are updated regularly, and are available at: www.alignmenthealthcare.com.
About Alignment Healthcare
Alignment Healthcare is redefining the business of health care by shifting the focus from payments to people. We’ve created a new model for health care delivery that cuts costs and improves lives by unraveling the inefficiencies of the current system to drive patients, providers and payers toward a common goal of wellness. Harnessing best practices from Medicare Advantage, our innovative data-management technology allows us to commit to caring for seniors and those who need it most: the chronically ill and frail. Alignment Healthcare provides partners and patients with customized care and service where they need it and when they need it, including clinical coordination, risk management and technology facilitation. Alignment Healthcare offers health plan options to California residents through Alignment Health Plan, and partners with select health plans in North Carolina to help deliver better benefits at lower costs. For more information, please visit www.alignmenthealthcare.com.
