Rising digital adoption rates among seniors present Medicare Advantage plans with more opportunities to engage members in their care through low-cost and targeted outreach. With the aid of the right digital health tools, members are more capable than ever at navigating their healthcare journeys.
As seniors take advantage of innovations in elderly care, Medicare Advantage plans need to evolve to meet their growing expectations. Explore how digital healthcare for seniors has become more commonplace and discover how to take advantage of new engagement opportunities.
Current State of Senior Engagement
According to research conducted in 2015, seniors preferred to communicate through face-to-face interactions, over the phone and direct mail due to the personalization offered by these interactions. To reach these members effectively, Medicare Advantage plans traditionally shared details about plan benefits and clinical information through call centers, direct mail and in-person appointments with providers.
However, developments in consumer behaviors have significantly changed communication patterns. While seniors have taken longer to adopt mobile devices in their daily lives compared to other age groups, the percentage of older adults who owned smartphones increased by 58% from 2011 to 2021. With regards to healthcare, use of online health resources doubled in the same period, according to the National Health and Aging Trends Study.
The demographic makeup of Medicare Advantage members has also shifted as newer beneficiaries show an increased interest in digital engagement. Roughly two million Medicare Advantage enrollees in 2022 purchased coverage through an e-broker and two-thirds of surveyed members reported using digital tools during enrollment. To effectively treat this younger pool of members, providers have also increased the use of senior care technology and digital engagement through video chats, wellness trackers and health apps for seniors.
Despite this increased interest in digital outreach, members have expressed disappointment in the current state of health plan communications. When asked about their onboarding experiences by McKinsey & Company, 15% reported no interactions with their plans. For members that did interact with their plans, the most popular channels used were direct mail, emails and phone calls. Under 20% of members stated they completed an activity related to their healthcare or benefits.
Impact of Digital Engagement on Plan Performance
Stricter quality benchmarks from government regulators have led to questions about how to improve healthcare for the elderly through the right technological innovation. For many Medicare Advantage plans, incorporating digital engagement into member experiences and outreach efforts will have a powerful impact on high-value performance metrics, including member experiences and care gap closure.
When members are effectively engaged through their preferred communication channels, they are more likely to use plan benefits to complete preventive health activities, manage chronic conditions and address healthcare challenges brought on by social determinants of health. Relying too heavily on traditional outreach methods like direct mail or phone calls makes it difficult for health plans to meaningfully interact with members who prefer digital communications. Plans that fold digital channels into their outreach efforts expand their potential touchpoints for interacting with members and improving health outcomes.
Digital engagement also impacts financial performance and operational efficiency. Direct mail and call centers come at a higher cost when compared to the outreach opportunities provided by emails and text messages. In addition, traditional, high-touch channels require more resources, staffing and time while limiting a plan’s ability to monitor response rates and member dispositions in real-time. By incorporating a digital-first approach to engagement, plans can significantly reduce the cost of engagement per member and expand analytical capabilities.
How Plans Can Enhance Senior Experiences
Medicare Advantage plans have an opportunity to transform member experiences, improve health outcomes and optimize plan performance by implementing digital engagement tools. Here are a few areas that plans can refine with digital engagement:
Digital Health Applications and Care Plans
Nearly 80% of Medicare Advantage members experience two or more chronic conditions. Managing these challenges is difficult to do when patient engagement is limited to annual appointments with primary care providers or emergency room visits.
To help members navigate their healthcare needs, equip them with digital health apps that display personalized care plans. Integrating clinical and non-clinical member data into health apps allows members to easily view their next best health action and access appropriate resources for improving their health.
Ideally, plans should use a single, comprehensive health app for seniors to help them navigate plan benefits and care plans. However, specialized apps may be necessary for specific conditions, such as blood sugar monitoring or weight loss. Consider consolidating digital health apps where possible to limit member abrasion while partnering with specialized vendors to handle high-touch issues.
Telehealth and Online Appointment Scheduling
Telehealth usage increased drastically during the pandemic and stood out as a cornerstone of elderly care technology. Seniors have continued to use it to stay connected with primary care providers despite the availability of in-person visits. To ensure members continue to have reliable access to both options, plans should continue to invest in telehealth, online appointment scheduling and provider search capabilities.
Ideally, members can quickly find in-network providers who offer video calls, in-person services or both with real-time appointment calendars. Due to the complex technical infrastructure of these tools, plan may need to partner with various vendors, but should always work to improve their internal tools where possible.
Health and Wellness Monitoring Devices
To help patients manage a variety of chronic conditions and health goals, technology companies have developed a variety of in-home health and wellness devices. These devices range from monitors for chronic conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure to everyday fitness trackers that collect activity, sleep and other lifestyle data.
Seniors have shown an increased interest in these devices to help manage age-related issues. By helping members access and use these devices, Medicare Advantage plans can increase members’ abilities to self-manage their healthcare. These devices also contribute to lower healthcare costs by eliminating the need for repeat provider visits to check vitals.
Expand Your Digital Capabilities
As consumer, market and regulatory pressure push Medicare Advantage plans towards digital engagement, plans need to think carefully about where they invest resources. Adopting a digital-first engagement model requires a combination of comprehensive technological capabilities and clinical expertise to ensure plans have the strongest impact on member experiences.
Accelerate your transition to digital engagement when you use Healthmine’s member engagement solution to consolidate member journeys. Healthmine’s digital suite enables Medicare Advantage plans to directly connect with seniors through omnichannel outreach, member-friendly smart phone apps and personalized care plans. Members who register with our program are guided to the next best healthy activity and close four times more care gaps than unregistered members.
Refine your member engagement strategies and reach more members than ever with Healthmine’s digital tools. Contact us for a demo.
Healthmine is the leading member engagement and rewards solution focused on empowering people to take the right actions to improve their health.