Scene Health and CareFirst Expand Partnership for Medicaid Members
Scene’s pioneering MedEngagement program meets members where they are to build trusted relationships and deliver personalized medication support
Baltimore – Scene Health (Scene) and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst), one of the country’s largest not-for-profit healthcare organizations, are proud to announce the expansion of their partnership. Scene will continue to support eligible members with asthma, hypertension, and/or type 2 diabetes while now offering new and innovative services to better connect them to necessary care.
This collaboration will provide eligible members access to Scene's MedEngagement program, which leverages personalized async video engagement to help people take their medication properly—every day. This enhanced partnership marks a significant expansion of care for Medicaid beneficiaries in Maryland, offering them a revolutionary approach to medication adherence and disease management.
“Our partnership with Scene has helped deepen our understanding of the real-life experiences and challenges members were facing,” said Mike Rapach, President and CEO of CareFirst Community Health Plan Maryland (CHPMD). “To improve healthcare access and equity, we need to work with partners creating new and innovative methods to support members."
For patients with chronic conditions, medication nonadherence is a critical issue, leading to poor health outcomes, hospitalizations and escalating treatment costs. Traditional approaches to improving adherence focus solely on whether a patient has their medications, neglecting the complex reasons behind nonadherence.
Scene’s MedEngagement program goes beyond possession to help patients take their medications properly and transform how they manage their conditions. Scene sets members on the path to improved health by helping them get to the doctor, access their prescriptions, overcome barriers to adherence, and keep up with labs and vitals to ensure effectiveness. Scene’s program leverages a suite of science-backed interventions centered around video Directly Observed Therapy (video DOT), delivered via daily 1:1 engagements with Scene’s virtual care team.
“We are grateful for five years of outstanding partnership with CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield of Maryland’s Medicaid team. Close collaboration and a shared culture of compassionate, goal-directed virtual care has helped thousands of CareFirst members in Baltimore take their medication as prescribed, leading to excellent health outcomes,” said Sebastian Seiguer, CEO and Co-Founder of Scene. “It is exciting to see the gold standard for medication adherence, Directly Observed Therapy, expand across the region in a fun and accessible format.”
"The partnership has empowered CareFirst with the opportunity to improve the quality of care and experience for our Medicaid members managing critical conditions like asthma,” said Subbu Ramalingam, Vice President of Quality & Risk Adjustment for CareFirst. “Innovations such as Scene Health's services seamlessly coordinated with other CareFirst health services, benefits, and rich network coverage are critical for us to improve the overall health and quality of care for our members."
CareFirst CHPMD has successfully offered Scene’s program to over 10,000 Medicaid members since 2018. Scene, commercialized out of Johns Hopkins 10 years ago, has helped CareFirst CHPMD members improve their medication adherence rates, increase their uptake of preventative care services and adopt pro-health behaviors. By expanding the partnership’s reach, Scene's transformative MedEngagement program will be available to thousands of Medicaid members in Maryland.
“There has been a significant challenge in ensuring members with chronic conditions take their medications properly, which can lead to additional problems down the road,” added Rapach. “CareFirst is committed to addressing this issue head-on, offering personalized solutions through partners like Scene to encourage consistent medication use and support the management of chronic conditions.”
About CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield
In its 86th year of service, CareFirst, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, is a not-for-profit healthcare company which, through its affiliates and subsidiaries, offers a comprehensive portfolio of health insurance products and administrative services to 3.5 million individuals and employers in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia. In 2022, CareFirst invested $24.1 million to improve overall health, and increase the accessibility, affordability, safety and quality of healthcare throughout its market areas. To learn more about CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, visit www.carefirst.com.
About Scene Health
Scene is the industry leader in MedEngagement, going beyond traditional medication adherence to transform disease management. Commercialized out of Johns Hopkins, Scene has over ten years of experience improving medication adherence in diverse populations facing significant health and socio-economic challenges. Scene currently delivers programs for over 700 public health departments, Medicaid and Medicare MCOs, and life science organizations covering multiple chronic and infectious conditions, including diabetes, asthma, COPD, cholesterol, opioid use disorder, hepatitis C, tuberculosis, hypertension, sickle cell disease, and solid organ transplants.