When members think of their health plan, they don’t typically think of a bunch of separate departments with different goals and initiatives. They think of a single entity. To maintain a positive relationship and strong member experience, it is important for plans to act as much like a single entity as possible.
For example, a call or message about the importance of blood testing for a diabetic member on the same day as a claims update, vaccination reminder, and a customer service survey provide a confusing, often frustrating experience for members. Making matters worse is when this cross-communication also comes from a variety of channels. When multiple departments use multiple tools that allow for easy email, IVR, or mobile outreach, the convenience of self-service can mean haphazard outreach for the member, causing abrasion and confusion.
The move toward mobile and digital outreach requires intelligent coordination to fully deliver on its potential and avoid dangerous pitfalls around member experience and compliance. The first step is to fully audit the member communication experience from both the entire organization’s and a member’s perspective. Understanding the topics and needs that different departments have, as well as how often a member is getting letters, emails, calls, texts or portal messages in a period of time, helps frame the member/plan relationship more accurately.
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To address this challenge, it is important that departments and communication strategies are aligned. This requires either incredible communication throughout the organization, or more simply a single platform that coordinates and orchestrates outreach. This platform must consolidate engagement efforts into a single hub that gives you a clear idea of performance, engagement, and volume for each channel at the population, segment, or individual member level. From the member’s side, it means that their engagement on one channel doesn’t occur in a vacuum – responding to a text that you received a flu vaccine means you will not have to receive a phone call reminding you to get one two days later. For the plan, channel selection is no longer a limiting factor in launching programs – letting your team and ours focus on maximizing outcomes through the most effective mix. The platform also centralized preferences for channel, frequency, and language while also maintaining key compliance functions for opt-outs.
If your mission is to provide a positive member experience that builds trust, consolidating your engagement outreach in a single source is likely your best option.
