Independence Blue Cross Taps tango To Scale Value-Based Medicare Advantage Home Health Network
By Morgan Gonzalez | January 6, 2026
Pennsylvania health insurer Independence Blue Cross (IBX) has partnered with post-acute benefit enablement company tango to expand access to home health care through value-based reimbursement arrangements.
The partnership, announced on Tuesday, is designed to lower readmission rates and total cost of care by building IBX’s home health network for its Medicare Advantage members.
“Our whole model is to drive timely home health access, because we believe that reduces the total cost of care in a post-acute setting,” Brian Lobley, CEO of tango, told Home Health Care News. “Our objective really is at discharge, to get someone who’s qualified for [skilled home health into their homes] as fast as possible. We believe that we shorten that duration.”
Phoenix, Arizona-based tango is a managed service organization that partners with health plans to enable post-acute care for Medicare Advantage and Medicaid dual enrollees. The company provides utilization management services and aims to take full risk with its reimbursement agreements, Lobley said.
The partnership, launched in May, has been in a transitional period, Lobley said, in which the company works with hospitals and providers to inform referral parties and home health agencies that tango will act as the payment mechanism, managing referrals and fielding claims.
“It takes 60 to 90 days, about a quarter, to get the model in,” Lobley said. “We do a ton of education beforehand, start 60 days before go live, but then we are doing a lot of retraining throughout first and second quarter so we can get the model where it’s pretty seamless and working directly with tango.”
Early data from the program found 100% of qualified referrals for IBX Medicare Advantage members were placed with a home health agency within two days of tango receiving the referral, with a 97% member satisfaction rate, according to the company.
When working with home health agencies, tango pays providers a set rate, measures the readmission and emergency room rates in the post-acute setting and shares some of the savings from lower readmission rates.