Private Payers News

How Healthcare Information Technology Boosts Member Engagement

Both healthcare information technology and relevant communication channels can improve customer satisfaction, according to Medullan's VP of Platform Solutions.

By Vera Gruessner

Healthcare information technology and communication channels remain an imperative aspect of the relationship between health payers and their consumers. As the healthcare industry continues to reform toward a value-based care platform, new legislation such as the Medicare Access & CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) will be further stimulating the use toward healthcare information technology.

Value-Based Care

Starting in early 2017, MACRA will essentially overtake the meaningful use program and technology will be utilized in a more coordinated manner to improve patient care. With an ongoing rise in healthcare costs around the nation, health payers could incorporate healthcare information technology to automate processes and reduce spending, said Dr. John R. Patrick, author of Health Attitude: Unraveling and Solving the Complexities of Healthcare.

“We’ve seen what’s possible when we use Amazon, eBay, and many other successful and profitable websites. We know that Internet technology is very highly scalable. It didn’t used to be back at the beginning,” Dr. Patrick told HealthPayerIntelligence.com. “Technology has evolved. People have mastered the technique of being able to create scalability on the Internet so that an organization can simultaneously serve millions of consumers.”

“I mention that as a backdrop because it begs the question – why can’t we do that in healthcare? I came from a world where you click and something happens. When I got into the world of healthcare, I found there was no place to click.”

“The healthcare industry is plagued with paper, post-its, clipboards, mailings, multiple blank sheets, and redundant information that adds no value whatsoever but does add cost,” he concluded. “If companies like Amazon and others utilized the technology approach of the healthcare industry, they would be bankrupt.”

Insurers around the nation need to invest in effective healthcare information technology in order to improve data privacy and security of their members and strengthen the enrollment processes for future policyholders, as some payers such as Centene have had missteps in these areas.

Health payers may also need superior communication channels in order to keep consumer satisfaction high and resolve problems more effectively during customer service calls, explained Ryan Rossier, Vice President of Platform Solutions at Medullan, in an interview with HealthPayerIntelligence.com.

When asked about some innovative approaches health payers could use technology to improve customer service, Rossier responded, “I would say that we - the collective we in healthcare - are still catching up to what folks are already doing [in other industries] from a technology perspective. From a contextual awareness perspective, with customer service being one of the key channels, it is as simple as ensuring that profile information is shared across departments.”

“The example that I have is working with USAA. We have them for car insurance. The ability for them to say ‘Hello Ryan,’ which, as simple as that is, makes a difference in the conversation that you're having with folks,” Rossier continued. “An innovative example is something that we’ve been looking at a lot and it’s a technology that takes quantitative data of an individual - let’s say claims information and lab information - and turns the quantitative data into a narrative.”

Rossier explained that customer service representatives could bring up the narrative of a consumer and read it in a more “contextualized way” instead of seeing more statistical data. This allows there to be more empathy between the two parties, he clarified, which allows both people to come to a resolution more quickly than without this information.

When asked about ways health payers can ensure high consumer satisfaction, Rossier discussed the following: “I think a couple of things [can be done]. It’s a cliche but the term is meeting people where they are. I think that expression, when done appropriately, can actually create a very high sense of satisfaction.”

“For example, outbound dialing is still a very common practice of outreach for individuals. Outbound dialing at the wrong times is also still significantly used. What creates high customer satisfaction is actually taking input - let’s say someone calls you between 6 to 8 o’clock. It happens that you have two children and bedtime is seven. If you’re able to capture feedback from an individual that this is not a good time and incorporate that into an outbound contact preference and you then deliver on that promise of not calling that person at the wrong time, then your customer satisfaction is going to increase,” he explained.

The most vital part of this advice is that health payers should first ask for feedback, utilize technology to incorporate that feedback, and then use the information in practice. When customer feedback is sent to relevant departments, this is expected to increase customer satisfaction.

When it comes to supporting provider networks in using technology to improve patient outcomes and safety as well as increase patient satisfaction, Rossier said, “For me, it starts in a couple of areas. That includes a couple of topics such as value-based healthcare and ACOs. This is the meeting of payers and providers. All communication needs to start with the individual.”

“How payers and providers can help starts with, regardless of the channel being used, the focus on how the individual wants to communicate,” Rossier continued. “Recognizing what payers and providers can do as they work together as part of an ACO or other payer-provider network, is to put the member in the middle, provide different channels for the individual to select from, understand which channel is working for that member, and then promote more engagement of that member through that channel.”

There are multiple channels through which a consumer may communicate including member portals, customer service phone centers, electronic mail, text messaging services, and patient portals. Once they go back to the same communication channel several times, payers can track that information and use it to improve consumer engagement.

When asked how payers can measure consumer engagement and track the success of their customer service, Rossier discussed data analytics.

“The biggest thing is ensuring that organizations are using data analytics and they’re doing it across their entire ecosystem in both digital and nondigital assets,” Rossier concluded. “When a member or a prospect enters their ecosystem, they will need to be able to measure and follow that member all the way through whatever journey that member is on.”

 

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