NEWS
In a Health Payer Intelligence article from 2019, Jennifer Bresnick discussed the benefits of personalizing member communications and incentive programs to individual Medicare Advantage (MA) members in order to improve engagement. The article summarized the results of a Healthmine study from 2019 that outlined how few MA plans are incentivizing healthy behaviors with rewards, and the plans that do offer incentives are not customizing their messaging, health recommendations, or rewards to individual beneficiaries, particularly those with chronic conditions. Bresnick highlighted how current engagement strategies are only activating a handful of members, and a large portion are not taking their plan’s recommendations.
As noted by Bresnick, membership is on the rise for MA plans, and member populations are more diverse in how they engage with health plans. Seniors may prefer phone calls or mail, but many are tech-savvy and comfortable with emails, text messages, and in-app notifications. To improve engagement, plans need to diversify their strategies to include both physical and digital engagement and tailor their outreach to each individual member’s health conditions and communication preferences.
While citing another Healthmine study from 2018, Bresnick highlighted how members are already generating health and lifestyle data through digital health tools and the opportunities this data opens up for plans. By harnessing this data to inform incentive programs and omnichannel member outreach, plans can empower members to live healthier lives by providing them with resources, tools, and motivation to complete recommended health activities.
