employee-engagement-and-organizational-health

Health People, Healthy Plan.

Are you familiar with consumer driven health plans? He’s the scoop on Employee Engagement.

Are you familiar with “consumer driven health plans”? According to Forbes Employee “Engagement is Everything.” and that the most successful companies in the world are putting massive amounts of effort to get their customer involved. 

A consumer driven health plan is when the members of the plan are

    • Actively participating
    • Pursuing healthy goal
    • Providing feedback
    • Utilizing apps to track wellness

And When The Plan Practices

    • Transparency
    • Honestly evaluate employee input
    • Communication
    • Promotes meaningful incentives
    • Share your success stories

In return, the plan sees increases in employee satisfaction and plan efficiency.

Competing Forces: Efficiency and Member Retention. Employee Engagement, the Hero.

The general perception of efficiency is the reduction of high-cost customer-facing operations such as customer care centers, mailers, etc. While retention requires a high-touch, high satisfaction customer experience.

Say hello to the mobile age. This is where digital solutions disarm the standoff between efficiency and member retention. Providing the opportunity to obtain both.

Are your employees engaged? Are they aware and encouraged to be active in their own health?

In the past Gartner had predicted that  “A customer will manage 85% of the relationship with an enterprise without interacting with a human.” And it has become the norm. Additionally, with “Facebook Messenger Bots Revolutionizing Business”, according to Forbes, consumers are becoming more accustomed to, and expecting of these types of interactions.

Have You Engaged Your Employees in Their Own Health?

Major organizations provide many options for their plan members to have questions answered. As well as, keep their health plan information organized, and improve expectations

Helping to reduce the burden on their support team, promoting added efficiency while also improving member satisfaction.

Offering incentives for plan members to live healthy is another approach that is becoming common with top plan managers. In doing so, they can also reduce premiums for the members over the long-term while also encouraging the most efficient utilization of the plan. Be sure to use all communication tools at your disposal, in clued text message or app messaging.

Give your members options to accomplishing their tasks. They need to be able to connect with you, and get the information they need, easily, in a way they are familiar and comfortable. This idea is called omnichannel communications.

Member have already been taught, “to expect best-in-class digital and live-person channels, content tailored to their interests, and a seamless journey focused on their individual needs,” from their interactions with Amazon and others, according to McKinsey.

Act Now, Consumer Expectations Continue to Rise

It’s true, the data shows that members with a self-serve mentality will flock to digital channels, provided they have the option.

“Empower members to make higher-value care decisions and enable health insurers to improve care quality, increase member satisfaction, and reduce medical spending.” -McKinsey

McKinsey recommends three components to each personalized health interaction: the insight/solution, the message, and the channel.

  • The insight/solution. For instance, the estimated cost of a procedure or drive/wait time and/or the solution the member needs (such as a telemedicine visit or appointment scheduling).
  • The message. Personalizing the message for each member (such as emphasizing a procedure’s risks versus its cost or convenience) strongly influences whether a member ignores or responds to the support offered.
  • The channel. Choosing the most appropriate channel or channels—email, text message, reminder alert in a web portal, outbound call from a nurse, etc.—to deliver messages is critical.

Even with all the forethought, personalization, and best intentions in the world, a digital interaction is a pale imitation of an actual person. Health plans can go a long way in making their digital communications more personable by addressing issues that lead to member confusion and frustration.

Behavioral Economics Applied to Healthcare

Simply put, we should be aware of the basics of behavioral economics. Behavioral economics is a hybrid of psychology and economics that provides robust insights into the drivers of behavior of humans, while acknowledging our inherent irrationality.

These insights can be used to guide member behavior and perceptions via unobtrusive “nudges,” an approach increasingly being employed by companies to improve customer satisfaction.*

Use these opportunities to nudge your plan to being a top performer. Your members, the Plan, and your bottom line will be healthier when you do!

Become a Top Performing Health Plan

You can make your health plan a winner and improve employee satisfaction, employee engagement, reduce plan expenses and see a huge reduction in the number of phone calls and emails you receive from confused plan members.  You can do it, and if you need assistance we are always here to help. Call us to day. 1-800-813-4054

Vengroff Williams is an industry-leading Health Plan subrogation provider for Fortune 500 and Global 2000 firms.