The healthcare industry is constantly evolving, with companies striving to provide great member experiences in a highly competitive market. As the emphasis on customer experience grows, healthcare payers are challenged with delivering an experience that differentiates them from competitors.  Effective customer communications management (CCM) is essential for success in this competitive environment where every communication counts.  In this blog, we'll cover some best practices for implementing an efficient CCM strategy designed to enhance the member experience.

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Best Practices for Healthcare Payers for Effective Customer Communication Management

1. Inject flexibility into legacy environments: Inflexible legacy systems can limit a healthcare payer’s capacity to provide members with individualized communications. One way to solve this problem is by investing in new technologies that provide the capabilities needed to meet customer expectations. Modern CCM software platforms offer the ability to speed up the production of welcome kits, EOBs, and health plan summaries, all of which can incorporate personalization targeted to the recipient’s demographic.
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2. Deliver great customer experiences that span multiple channels: Members expect to communicate with healthcare payers via a variety of channels, including email, chat, social media, and the phone. Hence, payers need to offer a uniform experience for comprehensively branded, personalized, and regulatory compliant communications that can be delivered to members via the channel of their choice.
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3. Deliver engaging digital experiences: Consumers today demand interesting, interactive, and instructive digital experiences. To offer members a rich, informative experience, healthcare payers must employ a range of digital components, such as videos, images, charts, interactive controls, and sliders. These digital experiences can also include personalized material, such as health risk assessments, wellness suggestions, and other pertinent information. Interactive tools, such as cost estimators, are also valuable and can assist individuals in making educated healthcare decisions.
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4. Simplify complex documents to facilitate better readability and comprehension: Many healthcare documents are difficult to understand, especially for people with limited health literacy. To ensure a smooth reading experience for consumers, it is important to use straightforward language along with images and other illustrations. Simplifying the terminology used in the explanation of benefits (EOB), summary of benefits and coverage (SBC), and other documents also increases members’ comprehension and will result in fewer calls to customer service.

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Benefits of Implementing These Practices for Healthcare Payers

1. Improved customer retention:  An effective CCM strategy assists in developing lasting relationships with members. The likelihood that a customer will continue with their healthcare payer increases if they are kept regularly informed and have a positive experience.
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2. Positive healthcare outcomes: Improved healthcare outcomes can be achieved via more effective communications. Healthcare payers may enhance adherence to medication and treatment programs (and reduce costs) by providing the information members need to successfully manage their health.
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3. Competitive Advantage: Healthcare payers that place a premium on superior communication management will stand out from the competition and succeed in a competitive market by enhancing member outcomes and delivering excellent customer experiences.
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4. Holistic view: Compliance teams can also access the entire communications package in every format, enabling them to evaluate both what they see and what the customers see.

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Create Value and Enhance Your Competitive Advantage

Technology has paved the way for a new level of customer service, which has reshaped consumer thinking. Today’s customers know what they want and when they want it. For healthcare providers to achieve customer satisfaction, they must ensure that every interaction is a quality one. By applying best practices in designing and producing customer communications, leading healthcare payers enjoy improved member retention, a competitive advantage, and long-term success.

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