Seniors Health Care: AMA Launches New Medicare Insurer “Zing Health” To Focus On Patient-Physician Relationship

From a Fast Company online article:

Zing’s plan will give seniors access to a network of clinics in Cook County, Illinois, starting in January. The company hopes to expand to three states by 2022. It’s a managed care plan, which means the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will pay a single monthly fee per member in exchange for a more holistic approach to nurturing patient health. Zing is working with a network of community health centers, including Oak Street Health, which recently raised $65 million for its senior-focused facilities.

Whitaker is a primary care doctor by training—he ran the Illinois Department of Health between 2003-2007–but he’s also an entrepreneur and the founder of investment firm TWG Partners. His goal with Zing is to coax community health centers to expand into tele-health and more specialized medicine in addition to basic primary care. He also wants Zing to play an active role in managing patient health, ensuring that information is handed off to doctors appropriately. For example, if patients go to the hospital, Zing will make sure their primary care doctor is informed.