Commissioned report found lower total cost of care and reduced inpatient medical and surgical costs for Regence BlueShield members with access to Dispatch's Emergency Room Alternative Care Model

DENVER, Sept. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- DispatchHealth, the leading organization powering scale in complex care at home, today announced findings from a three-year matching study reviewing its partnership with Regence BlueShield for the Washington state health plan's commercial and Medicare Advantage members. Comparing Regence members to a matched benchmark, the study revealed statistically significant medical cost savings, although the study noted the results should be interpreted as correlational rather than a causal estimate.

DispatchHealth commissioned Milliman, a global actuarial and professional services consulting firm, to study three years of data from its partnership with Regence BlueShield, comparing cost outcomes for commercial and Medicare Advantage members in Washington state against a matched market benchmark (2022–2024).

The study evaluated the savings of providing Regence members with access to DispatchHealth's Emergency Room Alternative Care (ERAC) program, which replaces a traditional emergency department visit by bringing care to patients at home.

From 2022 to 2024, Regence's commercial and Medicare Advantage members had the option of being cared for at home instead of through emergency department visits. According to the Milliman study, cost savings in 2024 were 10.8% ($19.59 per member per month) for commercial members and 13.7% ($96.26 per member per month) for Medicare Advantage members when comparing to a matched population. This report is provided for informational purposes only and should not be interpreted as an endorsement of Dispatch's care model or Regence's program design by Milliman.

"Providing emergency care in the home allows patients to receive the right care at the right time, which prevents both the emergency department visit and the inpatient stay that often follows," said Jennifer Webster, DispatchHealth CEO. "With ongoing emergency department capacity and boarding challenges across the country, giving patients an alternative to the emergency room captures an opportunity to improve access to care, relieve pressure on emergency departments, and reduce costs all at the same time. These data align with our internal analyses and we're grateful to our partners at Regence BlueShield for participation in this independent review."

"At Regence, we work to ensure our members get the care they need, at the time and place that works best for them," said Dr. Donna Milavetz, chief medical officer at Regence BlueShield. "The data from our partnership with DispatchHealth shows that members may find significant savings with alternative sites of care, outside of expensive hospital settings, while receiving excellent care."

The report is available here, for more information visit www.DispatchHealth.com.

About DispatchHealth
Denver-based DispatchHealth enables health systems to offer complex care at home at scale. DispatchHealth is the first company to prove the home hospital model, combining more than a decade of clinical experience, a logistics platform, and the healthcare industry's only clinical workforce specifically trained for complex in-home care. DispatchHealth enables approximately 20 health systems around the country to deliver hospital-level care in the home across the care continuum. For more information about DispatchHealth, visit us at www.dispatchhealth.com.

SOURCE DispatchHealth