SCAN Health Plan, a Medicare Advantage insurer, will begin offering health plans in two Texas counties and grow its services in Nevada in 2023, the company announced last week.
With the expansion, pending CMS approval, Long Beach, California-based SCAN will reach nearly 7 million potential customers across four states, including California and Arizona, according to a news release.
The counties in Texas are Harris County and Bexar County, which include Houston and San Antonio. In Nevada, the health plan is currently in Clark County and is expanding into Nye County.
“Because we are currently in Nevada, it was a natural extension of our current presence,” said Sherry Stanislaw, general manager and an officer of the health plan. “[With] Texas, we expanded into Arizona and Nevada this year, so it felt like a natural extension as we expand Southwest.”
Stanislaw added that Texas has a lot of Medicare eligible people, which attracted SCAN because it only serves seniors.
In the new Texas market, SCAN is contracting with Houston-based IntegraNet Health and Prospect Medical Group, based in Orange, California, Stanislaw said. SCAN already works with Prospect in its California and Arizona markets. When considering partners, SCAN looks for those with a good reputation in the community and expertise in serving seniors, qualities these medical groups met, Stanislaw said.
While expanding into these new markets, the health plan is doing a lot of outreach to ensure consumers, providers and brokers know SCAN is available, Stanislaw said.
“We’ve been meeting with brokers, introducing ourselves and I would say 50% of the brokers knew who SCAN was and 50% have not heard of us,” Stanislaw said. “A key effort is getting our name out there, talking to key stakeholders, brokers, providers and consumers about who SCAN is, getting our brand out and letting people know how we differentiate ourselves from the competition.”
SCAN’s competitors include big payers like UnitedHealthcare and Anthem, CEO Sachin Jain told MedCity in a previous interview. But what sets SCAN apart from its competition is that it’s a nonprofit and “invests and reinvests in our members and the benefits and services that we’re able to provide,” Stanislaw said.
Although it’s moving to a new market, Stanislaw stressed that SCAN is not a startup, which makes it easier for it to grow. The company was founded in 1977.
“We have a 45-year history,” she said. “We’re not new to MA. We’re well grounded, we have lots of experience. We’re just new to Texas.”
SCAN isn’t stopping with these expansions, she added. The company is looking to move into additional markets in the coming years, though Stanislaw declined to say which ones.
“I always say that the best way to deliver on our mission is to offer it to more people,” Stanislaw said.
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