This article first published on Health IT Outcomes on September 5, 2018.
It is a complicated time for the healthcare industry. The vast number of players competing for space leaves consumers in a tangled ecosystem of insurers, providers and pharmaceutical companies. What gets lost is the personal relationship between members and the medical community.
There is clearly a pressing need for patient transparency in healthcare. A first-rate customer experience (CX) is achievable, but only possible via three components: effectiveness, ease and emotion. The first two drivers, effectiveness and ease, are table stakes, practically a given for any healthcare payer. It’s the third aspect – emotion – which is more nebulous to measure, the degree of success to which hinges the overall quality of the healthcare CX. The goal is to create a sense of advocacy, making consumers feel appreciated and valued by their healthcare payer. Such positivity engenders goodwill and results in consumer loyalty.
How, then, can the healthcare industry generate feel-good emotions from CX while reducing negative responses? The solution resides in personalized video – direct one-to-one marketing messaging which speaks clearly and concisely to the consumer.
Here’s how healthcare payers deploy personalized video, adding a human dimension to a potentially-laborious process and connecting on an emotional level with patients and members:
- Prepare members for open enrollment – Through the medium of personalized video, healthcare providers demonstrate how members can get the answers they need to make the right plan choices. A video walk-through helps explain current benefits, compares plan options and elects coverage choices. A high level of preemptive care sets members up for success, and an added dose of personalization shows them the provider cares about them on an individual level. See how ADP TotalSource engages employees throughout the open enrollment period with personalized video.
- Welcome and onboard members – A personalized approach educates new members on important first steps to drive digital adoption and member actions. Personalized video addresses the member by name and explains when the plan starts, how it works and what it includes, while offering helpful payment reminders and online links such as “Find A Doctor,” “View Your Benefits” and “Estimate Your Cost.” By starting a relationship with this level of one-to-one engagement, healthcare payers show members that they are here to help and empower them. This added layer of value shows how personalization can be so much more than just individualizing members. See how Anthem Blue Cross welcomes new members and educates them on important first steps to drive digital adoption and member actions.
- Simplify explanation of benefits – The application of personalized video to a standard explanation of benefits (EOB) statement gives consumers a more digestible and easy-to-understand form of communication than text. By leveraging a patient’s electronic health record (EHR), a personalized EOB video deciphers the complexities of how plan costs work, including deductibles, coinsurance, copays and out-of-pocket maximums.
- Answer claims and coverage questions – Healthcare payers use personalized video to guide members through a claim and their coverage, indicating the doctor, how much has been paid or is owed and the cost-of-care. Members receive an explanation of the benefits of funding and their health savings accounts. When integrated into a web portal and other digital platforms, personalized video also supports members’ ongoing questions. By engaging members with personalized messages beyond just their first couple of communications, healthcare companies make known to members that they aren’t just trying to make a great first impression but actually care about being by their side every step of the way. See how UnitedHealthcare reduces confusion and complexity in medical claims with personalized video.
Personalized video is the prescription of choice for healthcare CX. At a range of touchpoints throughout the customer lifecycle, a personalized strategy enhances member and patient relations, which in turn gives a boost to patient retention and overall consumer satisfaction. For an industry built on the essential question of, “Are you feeling better?” the power of sight, sound and motion – when combined with human emotion – makes consumers feel better in more than just the physical way.
