AgeWell, a managed care organization for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries based in Lake Success, New York, will begin covering virtual reality-based mental health therapies for members of its Institutional Special Needs Plan.
The plan covers people who reside in long-term care facilities.
“[The] the primary focus is mental health,” said Amanda Thalmann, associate director of CareWell, the brand name of the institutional special needs plan that will cover virtual reality therapy.
Virtual reality therapy will focus on reducing the effects of isolation, improving communication with family members living far away, and increasing mental stimulation for patients suffering from neurocognitive disorders like AD. Alzheimers.
Although the agreement is promising, the total number of patients covered is low – around 200 – and AgeWell is not committing to coverage beyond 2023. The organization has purchased 12-15 helmets which will be distributed in its five installations under contract.
AgeWell, which uses virtual reality devices from digital therapy company MyndVR, does not share the additional financial terms of this agreement.
Coverage for services will fall under Medicare’s Alternative Therapies designation, which means AgeWell will reimburse without a designated code. Although Thalmann admitted that many seniors are hesitant at first, she said the benefits can be tangible once they overcome the hesitation.
“I just think it’s going to be hugely beneficial to the general well-being and quality of life of our seniors,” Thalmann said. “It’s their house. They can’t go out and do things, it will give them the opportunity.
Chris Brickler, co-founder and CEO of MyndVR, said more payers could start covering specific and limited uses of virtual reality over the next 18 months.
“There’s a lot of momentum,” Brickler said. He pointed to a bill introduced with bipartisan support in Congress last year that would allow public-payer coverage for digital prescription therapies, which could include virtual reality-based treatments in certain situations.
However, the adoption of this bill seems far away. In the meantime, partnerships of limited size and scope are likely to persist, experts say.
Rema Padman, a professor of management science and health informatics at Carnegie Mellon University, said that while virtual reality holds promise, its wide applications are still unknown.
“The question is, is this technology really suitable for broad distribution, or is it really suitable for niche types of deployments?” she says. “It’s still not clear.”