Your 2024 Guide To Medicare Advantage Crosswalks for HomeCare

Have you heard of Crosswalks before? We’ll fill in the gaps. 

Here’s what we’ll talk about:

• What is a Crosswalk?
• Medicare Advantage Crosswalks at a glance.
• What does this mean for you?

What is a Crosswalk?

A Crosswalk refers to a Traditional Medicare plan or a Medicare Advantage plan. For the purposes of this article, we’re talking specifically about Medicare Advantage. 

Medicare Advantage Crosswalks at a glance.

There are a couple of different types of Medicare Advantage Crosswalks. Here are some brief descriptions of the circumstances:

• Renewal: a plan makes no changes while going into the next year.
• Consolidated Renewal: 2 plans that a similar in nature consolidate into 1 plan while retaining one of the original plan ID numbers. 
• Renewal with a Service Area Expansion: a plan maintains the same coverage and service area while adding net new counties.
• Renewal with a Service Area Reduction: a plan maintains the same coverage while reducing the area that it serves.

If you want to learn more, refer to the Code of Federal Regulations.

What does this mean for you?

There is ample opportunity in home care to partner with Medicare Advantage plans. If you haven’t already joined provider networks for MA plans in your area, it’s a great time to start the process.

READ MORE: Why Home Care Agencies Should Look At Medicare Advantage

If you have already joined, Crosswalks might be a more familiar term. But, what can you do about it? In 2021, more than a million MA members were crosswalked into new plans.

Join multiple provider networks, as many as you’re accepted into. 

Did you know that 32.8 million seniors chose Medicare Advantage plans over traditional Medicare? The more reach your agency has, the better. 

Work with clients to help them understand their coverage. 

If a client’s plan will be reducing service to their area or removing them from their service area altogether, help them identify (or refer them to a MA specialist) what options would be best for their needs. That could also mean identifying additional payment options that could help, whether that’s a Long Term Care Insurance plan, VA coverage, or something different. 

Keep an eye out for your clients during open enrollment this year.

Medicare Advantage is a great opportunity for seniors, and your prospective clients may be able to take advantage of it. If you serve MA clients or have an interest in adding Medicare Advantage to your payer mix, make sure that you keep Crosswalks in mind.

Plans change unexpectedly and that can mean members lose coverage or their plan coverage changes (for better or for worse). Make sure that your agency can navigate these operational tides without slowing down your admin time. 

Start by using a home care software that’s built to support multiple payers, so that you can (at least) not have billing causing you a headache at night. Schedule your demo for Billing While You Sleep and other great features of CareTime here.