Kaiser Permanente and a pair of investment firms have unveiled a joint venture to help older, low-income adults receive care support without needing to be moved from their homes.
Habitat Health was announced Wednesday but was founded in 2023 with support from the integrated health system, healthcare investment firm Town Hall Ventures and venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates, according to its website.
It operates as a Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), a model in which providers receive capitated payments from Medicare and Medicaid with which to provide comprehensive medical and social services. Habitat Health is aiming to begin serving program participants in Sacramento and Los Angeles beginning in 2025.
“Our dedication to helping improve the health of our communities and members includes ensuring that people covered by Medicaid and Medicare can count on receiving the care and coordination that Kaiser Permanente delivers to our members,” Bechara Choucair, M.D., chief health officer at Kaiser Permanente, said in Wednesday’s announcement.
“By combining our expertise in integrated care with Town Hall Ventures’ experience launching businesses that support underserved communities, Habitat Health will help ensure that people who need the most care have access to high-quality, equitable medical care and services as they continue to age well in the communities that have cared for and supported them,” Choucair said.
The PACE model is intended as an alternative to nursing home-based care, delivering Medicare and Medicaid-covered services and other support determined to be necessary to maintain an enrollee’s health by an interdisciplinary care team. The services can include primary care, transportation, meals and physical therapy, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
About 72,000 adults aged 55 years or older participate in 163 PACE programs nationwide, according to data from the National PACE Association. Model participants are 76 years of age on average and have multiple complex medical conditions, but 95% of those participating live in their communities. Ninety percent are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid.
Habitat Health will serve as the payer for all participants’ Medicare and Medicaid services, according to Wednesday’s announcement.
The joint venture, the partners said, will benefit from Kaiser Permanente’s care integration capabilities as well as Town Hall Venture’s experience building care delivery companies targeting underserved groups. The latter has backed or helped build 35 such companies since its founding in 2018, including Cityblock Health, Signify Health, Strive Health and Unite Us.
“We have an extraordinary challenge in this country. The number of people age 85 and older in our country will double by 2040. We need a better answer for the millions of older adults that is more humane, compassionate, scalable and affordable for the nation,” Andy Slavitt, general partner at Town Hall Ventures, said in the announcement. “We share Kaiser Permanente’s commitment to finding innovative ways to improve community health, especially for underserved populations who need it most.”
Another PACE care delivery organization, MyPlace Health, opened its first face center in Los Angeles in February. The organization was launched in 2022 by a pair of payers, SCAN Group and the Commonwealth Care Alliance, and is looking for partners as it gears up to enter a second market in southern Los Angeles County in 2025.