Health plans looking to change member behavior to produce better health outcomes need to take a multivariable approach to member engagement.
Developing ways to engage members to help them make high-value health decisions will also make health plans more competitive in the market, said insurance executives at the recent World Healthcare Innovation and Technology Congress held earlier this month in Washington, D.C.
"Engagement is the conversion or transition of a member from being a passive recipient of healthcare to becoming a proactive consumer so they are seeking information, services or other helpful data points that can help them," said Jamie Kelley, senior director for product and innovation at UnitedHealthcare.
"Engagement is letting the consumer know that their health is the sum of thousands of small health decisions throughout the day," said Zachary Meyer, vice president of wellness and prevention, BlueCross BlueShield of Minnesota.
Here are their top nine strategies for plans to engage with members to influence their participation in their health and change unhealthy behaviors:
- Integrate solutions so that information is delivered seamlessly to members so they can interact with their health plans and providers "any way they want and when they want" and so consumers don't have to enter the same data repeatedly, Meyer said
- Use both push and pull messaging that is personalized, acculturated and tailored information that is relevant to the individual at the point of need.
- Employ patient incentives and motivational techniques, such as those used in gaming technology, like gaming prediction. "People don't have to be motivated with just cash, and many online applications are using gaming technology techniques," he said.
- Project a sense of community. Health plans will compete in the individual market unlike they've ever had to before. "Being able to get inside of the inner circle and become part of the individual's community is extremely important, not just in building loyalty but in allowing you to become the trusted advisor. That can help shape individuals' behaviors to the point where they will recommend you to others," Meyer said.
- Know your audience and with whom you are speaking. That means being aware of basic facts, such as gender, or how they score on health risk assessments, to be able to engage with them and tailor certain wellness programs to their needs.
- Test and measure. Many times the health insurance industry is reactive, but that is changing. "We've got to test and measure in a very methodical way how we approach consumers," Kelley said.
- Fail fast. With all this technology, it affords the ability to fail fast "If you've got a multi- faceted campaign--Web, text messaging and mobile messaging, IDR, and if you structure it appropriately, and you're testing and measuring, you know if your business assumptions are not going to be true. If the financial model does not support that business decision are not there, get out. Get out quickly and allocate those resources elsewhere. Sometimes failure is successful because you learn from it," she said
- Understand the influence of culture. It's important to know who the individual is and the culture in which they exist, whether it's based on, for example, gender, ethnicity, or affinity groups.
- Timing and value. The health message must resonate with the consumer when the individual receives it. Communicate a relevant message to a committed consumer right before the individual makes a healthcare decision, for example, before heading to a restaurant or grocery shopping, which requires knowing the customer.
Plans can measure consumer engagement by the "member taking action, like clicking on an activation message in their portal to go get a mammogram," Kelley said. The member is open to the message and moves from being a passive recipient to an active consumer.