Introduction

Designing and selecting the right healthcare consumer experience is probably one of your chief concerns as the Affordable Care Act is now a reality, especially as it relates to cost mitigation and essential plan requirements.

Beyond the obvious feature and function needs, what about consumer and employee engagement? Is this a key part of your initiative? Have you thought about how you will ensure increased participation or member retention while reducing the burden on HR or member customer service departments?

Targeted engagement strategies integrated into the pre, post, and ongoing enrollment processes can help you achieve these goals and more. On the following pages, we’ll review why facilitating consumer choice and engagement is key to lowering costs as well as acquiring members and fostering healthy member populations. Further, we’ll present 10 best practices being used today.

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Introduction

Why Engagement Should Be Part of Your Strategy

Online retailers have set the standard for an effective and engaging shopping experience. Current practices such as using product comparison tools, behavioral analytics, chat, and virtual assistants create a superior customer experience.

These practices are expected and desired by consumers and can make the difference between a loyal plan member or one who will abandon their application at the first sign of difficulty.

Concurrent with singular transactions, consumers want to be engaged before and after their shopping experience. Carriers have the unique opportunity to deliver targeted messaging based on employer data, health questionnaires, usage and communication preferences. Similar to other service industries, consumers want the choice of when and how they interact -- retail stores, online self-service, kiosks, phone, or by mobile device.

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36% are willing to switch insurers if offered

the ideal experience.3

1. Offer a Range of Education and Engagement Options

In 2010, the ACA expanded health insurance coverage to 30 million Americans. Analysts predict 11 million in 2014 to a high of 32 million in 2021 enrollees depending on state by state Medicaid expansion.4 Further, reports indicate that more employers than ever before are interested in leveraging a private exchange with 44% saying they will switch to an exchange model within the next 3-5 years.5

What is certain is that consumers, whether they are sent to an exchange by their employer, switching from individual plans to an exchange, or are purchasing insurance for the first time, need varying levels of education and guidance.

According to the Health Research Institute, most enrollees will be less familiar with the insurance system; in 2014, approximately 75% of public exchange enrollees will be newly insured. Education efforts by states and insurers will need to progress with the changing needs of exchange members as they transition from the newly-insured to experienced customers. 6

That said, how users interact with your exchange depends on their buyer persona. Taking into account primary personas and offering several ways to seek help and select plans sets the framework for your interaction models. On the next few pages, we’ll briefly cover the personas and then take a deep dive into the best practices of the interaction models.

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In 2014,75% of public exchange

enrollees will be newly insured.5

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In the Enroll UX 2014 project formulated to create the best exchange user experience, they defined several buyer personas which require varying levels of education and engagement.7

Personas:

Based on these key differentiators, the exchange should provide tools to match the desired user experience. On the following page, we briefly review some examples by persona.

1 1. Offer A Range of Education and Engagement Options

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PassengerGET IT DONE FOR ME

How they want to engage: Hands-off.

How they want to feel:Unburdened.

What they’re willing to give up: Control for convenience.

ApprenticeHOLD MY HAND

How they want to engage: Hands-on.

How they want to feel:Like they’re doing the right thing and making appropriate decisions.

What they’re willing to give up: Speed, convenience, and flexibility.

EngineerGET OUT OF MY WAY

How they want to engage: Detail by detail.

How they want to feel:Equipped to make decisions and changes when necessary.

What they’re willing to give up: Very little.

ManagerKEEP ME POSTED

How they want to engage: Only when needed for oversight and approval.

How they want to feel:Confident and well-represented; that their time is used effectively.

What they’re willing to give up: A certain degree of control over the process.

1 1. Offer A Range of Education and Engagement Options

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Apprentice: HOLD MY HAND This buyer persona wants an informed guided experience. They don’t just want to be led through the buying purchase but become actively engaged. They benefit from virtual assistants, online tutorials, video, and audio explanations to help guide their decisions.

Passenger: GET IT DONE FOR METhis buyer persona wants to be guided without getting bogged down in the details. Help them make their decisions quickly but accurately with as little hassle as possible. They benefit from virtual assistants, FAQs or knowledge bases, and simplified displays of plan choices.

Manager: KEEP ME POSTED This buyer persona wants a guided experience; however, without active engagement. Highlight important plan decisions, provide an opt-in virtual assistant, and offer ways for them to make comparisons between plans.

Engineer: GET OUT OF MY WAY As the description implies, give them all options, but allow them to control the experience. They may read all available material, explore all the tutorials, heavily use FAQs, and calculators, but it’s doubtful they want a guided experience. They want the detail and the control.

Many choices are not necessarily a good thing. When consumers have more than a few options at hand, they are likely to make inaccurate decisions. By helping them narrow their choices, they will trust their decisions and complete the enrollment process quickly.

Apart from asking basic demographic information and doctor choice, the best tools ask dynamic questions that take into account healthcare usage, financial comfort levels, and risk tolerance. In addition, the questionnaires use jargon-free questions that are designed to reveal lifestyle choices which help provide the best plan options.

One of the best examples of this tool was created by Bloom Health Corporation. This decision support tool is used in tandem with their private exchange offering called My Plan by Medica8. A best practice is to offer the use of these types of tools just prior to displaying plans but for those experienced shoppers give them option to take a more direct route and display all plans. Do not force them through the more extensive questionnaire process apart from the basic plan questions.

2. Use Intuitive Usage/Behavioral Plan Selector Tool

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This type of calculator factors more than just price and coverage levels. It provides estimated annual costs based on premiums, net any credits, and expected levels of use. According to Pacific Group on Health, there are several best practices when using this type of calculator9.

3. Use a Cost at Time of Care Calculator

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Calculator Inputs1. Make it an integrated part

of the plan selection process.

2. Fully explain the rationale and how the calculator functions.

3. Ask about expected levels of use rather than specific conditions to allay privacy concerns.

4. Ask different questions for pharmaceutical versus medical services use.

Calculation of Costs1. Ask about their expected

services use by asking them to match their expected use to typical yearly use profiles.

2. Sum the total costs of premiums and deductibles, net credits, net HSA contributions if applicable, and expected levels of use.

Displaying Costs1. Emphasize the total annual

costs, because it’s more clear-cut when doing plan comparisons.

2. Display a vertical calculation, you can include annual and monthly.

3. Be clear this is not guaranteed nor is a budgeting tool.

4. Allow for what-if scenarios.

Figure9

User Preferences questions assessing expected medical services use.

4. Use Videos and Tutorials

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Taking that one step further, adding video enriches the online experience for users who desire more in-depth explanations. Benefitfocus is one of the leading private exchange technology providers. Through their unique platforms and video library app, they are able to serve up timely videos at the user’s discretion. These videos explain everything from ancillary or voluntary benefits to explaining in versus out of network providers.10

Online tutorials are similar and can be useful for more in-depth concepts such as explaining the full range of consumer directed health plans.

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The Benefitfocus library.10

4. Use Interactive Web Elements and Embedded Help

As consumers go through the process, they may need quick answers or you need to ensure that they take note of important information. These tools take the form of hover information, help buttons, FAQs, and sliders.

Additionally, a virtual assistant can enhance these elements through audio and visual cues.

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5. Display Column Dimensions and Narrow Choices

Based on the ConsumersUnion11 and Pacific Group on Health Studies12, they have found using 6 or fewer plan dimensions (features) and no more than 3 plan choices aids cognitive processing. In fact, study participants chose higher value plans when plans were displayed in a column format than in a row format.However, you can still offer the flexibility to see all plans available, and as people become more experienced with shopping for insurance, column vs. row becomes less important.

In addition to columns, consumers are sensitive to the amount of information displayed. Also according to the Pacific Group on Health Studies, limited choices combined with ways to filter the information meets all consumer preferences. They recommend using total cost and then one other filter such as doctor in plan, quality ratings, and plan rules

as a good first start.

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45% of consumers made plan choices that matched their preferences when columns were used versus

34% for consumers who viewed rows.13

Plan A Plan B

Click the image above to watch Hanna explain how the app helps employees understand the relationship between their healthcare usage and costs for different types of plans.

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0bbaae5a04631

An advanced intelligent virtual assistant is one that uses emotionally expressive 3D animations combined with guided assistance. They can communicate with natural language response and be deployed on tablets to further enrich the experience. Intelligent virtual assistants have many advantages:

✓ Reduce costs by deflecting calls to the service center

✓ Operate 24/7 when your agents aren’t available

✓ Create loyalty and brand engagement✓ Provide consistent information✓ Offer a human-like connection✓ Increase voluntary benefits enrollment✓ Motivate consumers to complete

enrollment✓ Help consumers make better plan decisions✓ Increase application accuracy ✓ Improve the overall online customer experience

Additionally, intelligent virtual assistants (IVA) can be used in tandem with any other decision support methods you offer such as live chat, email, videos, FAQs, and sorting tools. In fact, the IVA ensures that these tools are used when appropriate and needed.

6. Use Advanced Intelligent Virtual Assistants

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50% of online

customer self-service search will be done using virtual assistants in 2015.14

7. Offer Optional or Voluntary Benefits

Based on the growth of high deductible health plans (HDHP), cost-conscious consumers can seek extra protection in case of a major medical issue by purchasing critical illness or accident coverage. At this time, this offering is only available on private exchanges.

Regardless, Joseph L. Murgo, from Aetna voluntary plans, stipulates that due to the possible increases in HDHP enrollments on private group exchanges and state exchanges, voluntary benefit offerings will see an increase in popularity as people search for ways to offset cost-sharing.15

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77% of employers

believe that Voluntary Benefits can increase

employee satisfaction with their benefits.15

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Creating healthy behaviors through wellness engagement and health coaching is paramount to sustaining cost effective health plans, reducing the cost of healthcare services, improving medication adherence, and manifesting permanent behavioral change. Although most people want to complete the enrollment process efficiently and get on with their day, it’s an ideal opportunity to create member loyalty and identify the free wellness programs, rewards, and tools available.

✓Consider adding a special button in the sidebar navigation to reveal a pop up box that summarizes the wellness program.

✓Create a wellness video and virtual assistant conversation for use during and after enrollment.

✓Upon online approval, direct members to these resources within the member portal.

✓Create a guided health risk assessment with the member portal with the aid of a virtual assistant.

✓Offer people the ability to download health and wellness mobile apps directly within the

exchange.

9. Keep Health & Wellness Engagement Top of Mind

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Watch Health Advisor Myra, a lifestyle health coach, assists patients with completing the a Health Risk Assessment. In this demo, she explains the process, and the importance of a good program.

The CareFirst Pedometer App18

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10. Provide the Right Experience by Form Factor

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Contrary to common misperceptions, not everyone has a tablet or smartphone. For those that do own these devices, usage activities may come as a surprise.

According to the Adobe Digital Index, PCs drive more website visits than tablets. And in their analysis, consumers use PCs to visit websites much more frequently, even though tablet and PC engagement levels are similar19. However there is a time and place for each experience.

Overall, consumers prefer to use PCs for in-depth research, comparison of alternatives, and online purchasing. Top tablet activities focus on reading news, browsing, and watching media. Finally, top smartphone activities center around local search, general search and social media updates.20

Although this research still points out PCs as the dominant form factor, over time researchers

expect that tablets will erode this position to provide a superior PC like experience. Now is the time to identify how your consumers currently interact with your brand, to determine how to proceed with your mobile experience.

Key Mobile Strategies:

Create a responsive design site that intuitively identifies device resolution and dimensions and adjusts accordingly. This is a good if not better alternative to creating a mobile site.

Ensure that you design website elements and buttons with mobile in mind - large and easy to click.

Render all videos including virtual assistant conversations in HTML5.

Create a mobile app that engages consumers for the ongoing customer experience: open enrollment, symptom checkers, doctor finders, claims, coverage levels, PHRs, and ID cards.

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Sources:1 ConsumersUnion, “What’s Behind the Door: Consumers’ Difficulties Selecting Health Plans”, ConsumersUnion, January 2012 (http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/pdf/Consumer%20Difficulties%20Selecting%20Health%20Plans%20Jan%202012.pdf)2 ConsumersUnion, “What’s Behind the Door: Consumers’ Difficulties Selecting Health Plans”, ConsumersUnion, January 2012 (http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/pdf/Consumer%20Difficulties%20Selecting%20Health%20Plans%20Jan%202012.pdf)3 Health Research Institute, “Customer Experience in Healthcare: The Moment of Truth”, Health Research Institute, July 2012 (http://pwchealth.com/cgi-local/hregister.cgi/reg/customer-experience-in-healthcare.pdf)4 Health Research Institute, “Health Insurance: Long on Options, Short on Time”, Health Research Institute, October 2012 (http://pwchealth.com/cgi-local/hregister.cgi/reg/pwc-health-insurance-exchanges-impact-and-options.pdf)5 AONHewitt, “Corporate Health Exchange Survey: The Time is Now Rethinking Healthcare Coverage”, AONHewitt, 2012 (http://www.aon.com/attachments/human-capital-consulting/Corporate_Exchange_Survey_Report_Final_2.pdf)6 Health Research Institute, “Health Insurance: Long on Options, Short on Time”, Health Research Institute, October 2012 (http://pwchealth.com/cgi-local/hregister.cgi/reg/pwc-health-insurance-exchanges-impact-and-options.pdf)7 Enroll UX 2014, “A New Standard for Pubic and Private Health Insurance Enrollment: Design Specifications Manual”, Enroll UX 2014, June 2012 (http://www.ux2014.org/download/final-deliverables/design-specs-manual/Enroll%20UX%202014%20Design%20Specifications%20Manual.pdf)8 Bloom Health Corporation, “My Plan by Medica”, Bloom Health Corporation http://www.medica.com/myplanbymedica/)9 Pacific Group on Health, “Consumer Choice of Health Plan Decision Support Rules for Health Exchanges: Issue Brief #2”, 2013 (http://www.pbgh.org/storage/documents/PBGH_PlanChoiceBrief02_CostCalc_013113.pdf)10 Benefitfocus, “Video App Library” (http://www.benefitfocus.com/apps/video/)11 ConsumersUnion, “What’s Behind the Door: Consumers’ Difficulties Selecting Health Plans”, ConsumersUnion, January 2012 (http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/pdf/Consumer%20Difficulties%20Selecting%20Health%20Plans%20Jan%202012.pdff)12 Pacific Group on Health, “Consumer Choice of Health Plan Decision Support Rules for Health Exchanges: Issue Brief #3”, 2013 (http://www.pbgh.org/storage/documents/PBGH_PlanChoiceBrief03_FiltersSorts_013113.pdf)13 Pacific Group on Health, “Consumer Choice of Health Plan Decision Support Rules for Health Exchanges: Issue Brief #3”, 2013 (http://www.pbgh.org/storage/documents/PBGH_PlanChoiceBrief03_FiltersSorts_013113.pdf)14 Kate Legget, “Siri is Shining a Spotlight on Virtual Agents”, Kate Leggett’s Blog, December 14, 2012 (http://blogs.forrester.com/kate_leggett/12-12-14-siri_is_shining_a_spotlight_on_virtual_agents?cm_mmc=RSS-_-IT-_-63-_-blog_2629)15 Murgo, Joseph L., “Voluntary Benefits in a Post-Health Care Reform World”, Aetna, August, 2012 (http://benefitcommunications.com/upload/downloads/Voluntary_Benefits_in_a_Post_Healthcare_Reform_World.pdf)16 Pacific Group on Health, “Consumer Choice of Health Plan Decision Support Rules for Health Exchanges: Issue Brief #6”, 2013 (http://www.pbgh.org/storage/documents/PBGH_PlanChoiceBrief06_DoctorSearch_021213.pdf)17 eHealthInsurance, (http://www.ehealthinsurance.com/)18 CareFirst, (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.carefirst.social.pedometer)19 Adobe, “How tablets are catalyzing brand website engagement” Adobe Digital Index Report, 2012, (http://success.adobe.com/en/na/programs/digital-index/1205_13926_di_report_rise_of_tablets.html)20Keynote Competitive Research, “2012 MobileUser Survey: MobileUser Preferences,Habits, and Expectations”, 2012, (http://www.keynote.com/docs/reports/Keynote-2012-Mobile-User-Survey.pdf)21 Aetna, Aetna Mobile App, (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.usablenet.android.aetna&feature=search_result)Written and Designed by Audrey Dalton, Director of Content Marketing

About CodeBaby:CodeBaby Corporation, headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is a global customer engagement technology company. Originally founded in Edmonton, Canada in 2001, by two Canadian physicians turned gaming entrepreneurs, CodeBaby is able to deliver better health, engagement, and financial outcomes through their CIVA benefits advisor solution. Deployed through a proprietary cloud-based customer engagement platform, benefits advisor guides and engages consumers and employees on health exchanges and benefits platforms using a combination of interactive web elements, decision support tools, and emotionally expressive, 3D intelligent virtual assistants.

Ready to Learn How the CIVA benefits advisor and the Customer Engagement Platform Can Help Optimize Your Health Exchange?

Request a Demo Call: +1 877.334.3465 | Email info@codebaby.comhttp://codebaby.com/online-solutions/benefits-advisor/

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