Member Engagement Innovations to Boost Member Satisfaction & Plan Performance

Kent Holdcroft, Executive Vice President of Growth at HealthMine, recently participated on a panel at the Medicare Advantage Leadership Innovations Conference. The panel explored innovative approaches to boosting plan performance while improving member satisfaction and outcomes. Participants included:

• Josh Edwards, Medicare Stars Programs Manager, Martin’s Point Health Care
• Carolyn Langer, MD, JD, MPH, SVP and Chief Medical Officer, Fallon Health
• Jan Smith Reed, Director of U.S. Healthcare, T-Base Communications
• Reva Sheehan, Government Programs Strategic Market Executive, mPulse Mobile

Kent kicks off the session by discussing a closed-loop approach to member engagement. “The consumer experience in healthcare is lagging behind a lot of other industries,” Kent explains. “When we think about where we’re headed, it’s not a complete surprise.”

So, where are we headed as an industry? Kent suggests that what’s next is a seamless approach to healthcare that supports members throughout their health journey from start to finish. This includes everything from offering customized nudges to perform health actions to automatically scheduling appointments with physicians.

The panelists also speak on how the COVID-19 pandemic has magnified the need to create a scalable engagement strategy that reaches even the hard-to-reach members. Creating aligned partnerships across the care continuum as well as in the technology space continues to be vital in the efforts to achieve such scalability.

Care management is another important piece of the puzzle, especially during the pandemic. The group discusses how technology is enhancing transitional care including transportation arrangement, discharge planning, and identifying risk factors through social determinants of health.

Another important topic of conversation is how to support individuals who are hesitant to seek in-person care, including trips to the pharmacy and other healthcare facilities, during the pandemic. In light of these circumstances, the group focuses on how communication innovations can help health plans educate members about lesser-known benefits – such as 90-day prescriptions and early refills – to achieve better health outcomes during times of uncertainty.

The group also digs into how to reach members through multiple channels of communication such as telehealth, SMS, phone calls and mailings, as well as accommodation strategies to ensure members with disabilities are not being left behind.

Lastly, the group recognizes how small rewards and incentives can make a substantial impact for members, especially during challenging times. They discuss the use of member engagement innovations as a means to increase satisfaction, close care gaps, and provide plans with helpful feedback.

Additional topics of this panel include:

• Keeping track of communication preferences
• The importance of collecting clinical and non-clinical data
• Oral health adherence
• Best practices for capturing member sentiment
• Working with partners to aggregate data and personalize communications

Did you miss the live event? Don’t worry, we recorded the panel session for you.