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Overcoming Member Barriers to Breast Cancer Screenings 

1 in 8 women in the United States will get diagnosed with Breast Cancer in her lifetime. This means that every two minutes, someone in the U.S. is newly diagnosed. When detected early, the 5-year survival rate is 99%, but advanced stage breast cancer can be fatal. Early detection through annual mammograms can help treat breast cancer before it progresses, significantly improving outcomes and saving lives. 

Women in their 50s through 70s are at a heightened risk for breast cancer, and doctors recommend annual screenings for women in this age bracket. Unfortunately, only 35% of women 40 and older are attending their annual breast cancer screening. While an annual mammogram may seem simple, it’s easy to overlook if you’re too busy or don’t feel like you need it. Proactively reaching out to members due for screenings and educating them on the importance of preventive care is critical to ensuring they receive the best outcomes and care.  

Challenge

One of the most difficult challenges is reaching members and meeting them where they are. mPulse mobile uses an omnichannel approach while analyzing your unique population’s preferences to deliver communication through the channel that will resonate most. Aligning your communication models to meet the preferences of your members will allow for a frictionless engagement approach that will yield the best possible outcomes.  

The second critical challenge is identifying each of your members barriers and providing them with tailored dialogue and education. Using Natural Language Understanding and conversational AI to provide tailored responses to each member and continually creating personalized touch-points creates relationships and trust with your members which will enhance retention and loyalty. 

When we apply these solutions to overcome barriers to breast cancer screenings, we’re able to not only reach members, but engage them and provide them with the relevant resources and education that result in better outcomes. 

Case Study: Breast Cancer Screening Barrier Identification 

Anonymized MCO Health Plan 

Program Goal: Identify and address barriers to breast cancer screening 

Program Execution: Through tailored SMS messaging, mPulse delivered dialogue to members who hadn’t scheduled their annual mammogram. Individual responses were analyzed through Natural Language Understanding and sent automated replies that had been designed by our team of behavioral data scientists and strategists. 

Our Behavioral Science team crafts dialogues by pulling research that studies population demographics, belief systems, health attitudes, and more. Leveraging this data allows our communication to resonate with your unique population, build health literacy and inspirer behavior change through personalization. 

See below for example dialogues to unique responses. 

*Please note, these are example dialogues created for the purpose of this blog. 

By analyzing member response data, plans can begin implementing the resources and education needed to further help members overcome barriers. For this use case, we were able to identify the largest barriers based on responses for their member population. See below for most frequent barriers gathered from response data. 

Barriers

Gathering insights and data from your broader population helps inform a long-term strategy and allows a broader understanding of your populations needs.  

Supporting barrier identification by providing relevant information and additional CTAs will continue to reinforce healthy behaviors throughout the member journey, while reinforcing self-efficacy. 

The Big Know by mPulse Mobile

The Big Know is mPulse Mobile’s streaming health education capability. Our team of instructional writers and designers produce broadcast-quality content designed to inspire health literacy at scale. We leverage the expertise of popular health experts to teach video and podcast learning experiences that are proven to engage and entertain your members. For one of our leading health plan clients, our average engagement time was 52 minutes per member.

Our streaming content includes a combination of video, animation, polls, quizzes, interactive modules, and embedded links to your related programs and resources. We average a 51% click-through to in-lesson client related programs.

Our breast cancer screening course is taught by Archelle Georgiou, MD, a leading physician, business executive, advisor, author, and speaker.  

 Lesson Title: Get Screened for Breast Cancer 

Lesson Description: Every person with breasts needs to know the facts about breast cancer and their risk for it. The recommendations for breast cancer screening can be confusing. This lesson helps you make sense of them and make your plan to get screened.  

Watch a short video from the breast cancer screening lesson: 

Click here to watch the full course. 

At mPulse Mobile, we leverage omnichannel conversational AI and streaming health education to inspire healthier populations while lowering costs to serve. Through personalized member journeys, we help build relationships that uncover barriers and facilitate healthier behavior change at scale.  

 To learn more about mPulse Mobile’s solutions and programs, contact us.

 

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