These were among the major themes in a discussion at Becker’s Payer Issues Roundtable featuring:
- Peter Bowman, chief product officer, Kyruus Health
- Jon Burow, vice president of customer experience and digital transformation, Independent Health (Buffalo, N.Y.)
- Deborah Peterson, vice president of digital strategy, experience and delivery, Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield (Rochester. N.Y.)
The panelists also highlighted the importance of leveraging technology in improving the member experience and the challenges of balancing transparency with data privacy.
Three key takeaways were:
1. Member education is crucial for improving transparency and member engagement. According to Mr. Burow, Independent Health has fundamentally changed how its team engages with members. “With our focus on member education, we communicate consistently [with members] through different channels,” he said. “Whether it’s outbound emails or inbound phone calls, we’re able to use one voice.” By focusing on transparency and education, members know what’s covered, how much it’s going to cost and where they can go to get that service.
2. Personalized nudges and messages can help drive member engagement. “We have the ability to do nudges,” Mr. Burow said. “We’re seeing a lot of engagement because of that.”
Increasing personalization is what Ms. Peterson is tasked with at Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield. “My goal is to leverage technology so that whether a member comes to us through the phone, the web or an email, we can deliver what’s relevant to them in that moment,” she said. Ms. Peterson concurred. “However they want to do business is how we will do business with them,” she said. “We will service the member any way they choose to come to us.”
3. Collaboration and alignment with providers is necessary but can be hard. “They’re very set in their ways from a workflow standpoint, and we don’t want to add another burden,” Mr. Burow said. Still, even though getting provider alignment can be difficult, collaboration with providers is essential to provide members with lower-cost, higher-quality options and an improved, consistent, personalized experience.
Health plans are increasingly focused on member experience, which requires increased transparency, personalization and use of technology. However, while technology has benefits, health plans must provide members with a range of communication options based on the member’s personal preferences, and must ensure effective collaboration with providers.
