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Home-based care executives say signing a Medicare Advantage contract is only the start of maintaining a payer relationship. They point to timely performance data, regular communication and involving clinical teams in contract discussions as ways to address problems and work toward shared goals.
Home-based care executives say providers need to pair Medicare Advantage contracts with ongoing communication, performance data and clinical-team involvement to keep payer relationships working. Speakers at the PAYER Summit in June described those practices as ways to identify issues earlier and show plans how providers are performing.
Chris Cycak-Dyos, director of strategic network operations at healthcare technology and services company Helion, said providers can falter after signing an agreement if communication with the payer drops off. He urged operators to manage the full episode of care, rather than treating each visit as a separate unit, and to bring their own data into conversations with health plans.
Cycak-Dyos said providers should establish a baseline for both operational measures and patient outcomes. He also noted a practical limitation: claims data can lag by six months, making it difficult for either side to get a timely view of performance. Providers may still be able to share their own information and explain how they are tracking against expectations.
Matt Lippitt, vice president and division director at Bayada Home Health Care, said data creation, collection and analysis help define expectations at the start of a payer relationship. He said payers look for quality improvement, dependable access and reliability, and that Bayada uses data to show how it is performing against those measures and shared goals.
Keeping Payer Contracts Working
For home-based care operators, a signed contract does not by itself settle how services will be coordinated, evaluated or improved. The speakers’ examples point to ongoing work: providers must understand contract requirements, communicate when problems arise and demonstrate performance in terms payers can use.
That work can affect whether patients and plan members receive dependable access to care and whether providers and plans can address service issues before they escalate. The summit speakers presented episode-based care management and regular data sharing as ways to focus discussions on the broader course of care, rather than isolated visits or delayed claims.
The account also indicates that relationship management involves more than executives negotiating terms. Clinical teams need to understand what a contract requires, while senior leaders may need to engage directly when a facility and payer disagree. These practices were described by industry participants; the report does not establish that they guarantee better outcomes or contract retention.
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From Signing to Ongoing Coordination
The report, published by Home Health Care News in October 2026, draws on comments made at the PAYER Summit in June. Its focus is the period after a provider enters a Medicare Advantage network: how the organization communicates with the plan and shows whether it is meeting agreed expectations.
The speakers represented providers and services connected to different parts of home-based and post-acute care. Helion provides technology, data and consulting services for home- and community-based care. Bayada offers home health, personal care, hospice, private-duty nursing and related services across 20 states. Ignite Medical Resorts provides skilled nursing, rehabilitation and other services across seven states.
The report describes a common operational challenge: claims information may arrive too late to support timely performance discussions. It does not provide contract-retention rates, comparative outcomes or a study measuring the effect of the practices described.
“I often see providers, they get that contract, and then there’s no communication back and forth between the two sides. I think that’s where providers often fail.”
— Chris Cycak-Dyos, director of strategic network operations at Helion
Evidence and Contract Outcomes
The report offers executive perspectives and examples, not measured evidence that the described approaches improve outcomes or prevent contract termination. It does not specify how many providers or plans were represented at the summit, or whether the speakers’ experiences are typical across the market.
It is also unclear how widely providers can collect and share timely performance data, what measures individual plans require, or how often the reported six-month claims lag applies. The account does not identify the Texas facility or payer involved in Ignite’s example, and it does not report the result of the dispute or whether the relationship changed afterward.
Applying the Practices in Contracts
The report describes no new regulation, agreement or scheduled industry action. The next steps it identifies are operational: providers can set performance baselines, clarify expectations with plans, bring clinical staff into contract reviews and establish recurring communication after signing.
For Ignite, Meara said senior leaders arranged weekly meetings with a group of executives after a Texas facility encountered friction with a payer. The report does not say whether those meetings have ended or what resolution followed. More detail on results, including performance measures or contract status, would be needed to assess the effect of these approaches.
Key Questions
What is the main development in the report?
Home-based care executives described ways providers can maintain Medicare Advantage payer relationships after signing contracts, including regular communication, performance-data sharing and clinical-team involvement.
Why do providers need their own performance data?
According to Helion’s Chris Cycak-Dyos, claims data can be delayed by as much as six months. Providers’ own measures may help them discuss operational performance and patient outcomes with plans, though the report does not compare the accuracy of different data sources.
What did Ignite Medical Resorts do when a facility faced payer friction?
Senior leaders set up weekly meetings with a group of executives to hear the payer’s concerns, according to Justin Meara. The report does not state the dispute’s outcome.
Does the report show that these practices improve patient outcomes?
No. The report presents industry executives’ recommendations and examples, but provides no measured results linking the practices to improved outcomes or longer-lasting contracts.
Source: rss
