Elevance Health subsidiary myNEXUS recently launched a post-acute care program for Medicare members in Indiana, and the insurance giant is aiming to take it nationwide over the next year.
During the company's earnings call Wednesday morning, CEO Gail Boudreaux said it plans to take the next six to 12 months to scale up the program, which uses a capitated risk-sharing arrangement. The platform arms docs with technology tools that aim to optimize patient care post-discharge.
Boudreaux said the insurer, which formerly operated as Anthem, expects the platform to improve the patient and provider experience as well as to serve as a growth engine for Carelon, its newly launched provider services wing.
"It creates a much more effective and efficient experience for the provider," Peter Haytaian, executive vice president of Elevance Health and president of Carelon, said during the earnings call. "And this enables us to be very clear upfront in terms of the most appropriate levels of post-acute care."
He said the portal allows providers to easily make requests for services, with the program's ultimate goal to facilitate a safe discharge to the home for patients.
Elevance Health, formerly Anthem, boosted its guidance Wednesday even as its quarterly profit dipped year over year.
The company reported $1.7 billion in profit for the second quarter of this year, down from $1.8 billion in the second quarter of 2021 or by 7.8%. Revenues for the quarter were up, however, increasing by 14.1% to $38.6 billion.
Despite the profit decline, the insurer beat Wall Street analysts' predictions on both figures, according to Zacks Investment Research.
"The disciplined execution of our strategy, and the balance and resilience of our diversified portfolio of businesses has enabled us to deliver another quarter of strong organic growth, and we have raised our outlook for 2022 earnings per share as a result," said Boudreaux in a statement.
"Our recent name change to Elevance Health and the broader rebranding strategy underscores our transformation to a lifetime, trusted health partner and our diversified set of businesses that lend resilience in any business environment," she added. "We are uniquely well-positioned for growth in the future as we remain focused on meeting the needs of our clients and customers."
Through the first six months of the year, the company brought in $76.2 billion in revenue, up 15.8% from the first half of 2021, and $3.4 billion in profit, down slightly from $3.5 billion in the first half of 2021.
Elevance Health boasted 47.1 million members in the quarter, an increase of 2.7 million or 6.1% compared to the second quarter of 2021. The membership increase was backed by Medicaid growth—partially due to the suspension of redetermination—and organic growth across its other business lines.
In the second quarter specifically, membership grew by 276,000 people, according to the earnings report.
For full-year 2022, Elevance Health boosted its outlook and now expects earnings per share of at least $28.70.