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By gleaning more information, plans may discover members have health issues that may earn higher reimbursement rates from Medicare.The workers can help the plans collect more money from Medicare by persuading members to get annual wellness exams, fill out personal health risk assessments, and undergo covered health screenings.ДЄccomplishing these steps helps plans in two ways:

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Subscribe to KHN's free Morning Briefing.Д«ut SummaCare and other health plans also stand to benefit by sending Papa pals into membersвЂ™ homes. More than 12% of the companyвЂ™s 23,000 Ohio Medicare members used the Papa benefit last year. вЂњItвЂ™s the best thing everвЂќ to counteract social isolation, said Anne Armao, a vice president at SummaCare. Since 2020, more than 65 Medicare Advantage plans nationwide have signed up with Papa, a Miami-based company, to address membersвЂ™ loneliness - a problem exacerbated by the pandemic. Known as вЂњPapa pals,вЂќ their primary aim is to provide companionship to seniors along with helping with errands and light housework duties. вЂњI love it,вЂќ she said of the free benefit.Д«ailey, 72, is one of thousands of seniors around the country being visited each week by employees of Papa Inc. Some days, they would spend the two-hour weekly visit just chatting at her kitchen table.

So she was thrilled last summer when her Medicare Advantage plan, SummaCare, began sending a worker to her house in Akron, Ohio, to mop floors, clean dishes, and help with computer problems. This story also ran on The Washington Post.

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