10/7/2020 – Humana’s shift from fee-for-service medicine to value-based payments for doctors is trimming more costs for seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, the health insurance company says, citing a new annual internal study.

Medical costs were 18.9% lower for seniors enrolled in Humana Medicare Advantage plans that paid physicians via value-based models in 2019 compared to costs of those in traditional fee-for service Medicare, the Louisville-based insurer’s study, released Wednesday showed. And that translated to “$4 billion in plan- covered medical expenses (that) would have been incurred by Humana Medicare Advantage members if they had they been under original Medicare’s fee-for-service model instead of in value-based agreements.”

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