Seizing Digital Engagement Opportunities to Support Member Decision-Making, Lower Industry Costs

Health care consumer preferences underwent drastic shifts during the pandemic, with a significant uptick in the number of patients utilizing telehealth and virtual services. Industry leaders say the increased adoption of digital services is here to stay.

In this interview, Jason Burum, affiliated with Wolters Kluwer, addresses the ongoing challenges related to engaging members digitally. He also shares strategies for health plans to build trust, inform members with evidence-based content, and drive down costs across the industry.

What challenges do payers face when communicating with their members?

Health plans hoping to engage members have always struggled with relevance and credibility. Regarding relevance, what do health plans have that consumers want to engage with on a regular basis? As for credibility, it is logical for members to question the advice they receive from their health plan, since that advice might be tilted toward compliance with the benefit plan design.

Those engagement challenges are important to tackle. It is important for health plans to seek industry partners and solutions outside of themselves to create the right recipe for engagement.

We look to impact 3 areas. One is helping health plan care management staff have a larger, more efficient, and more automated impact on improving care and outcomes. This includes satisfaction as well as clinical outcomes.

We also work with health plans to engage members about the best path to improve their health. We strive to ensure the member’s version of their care journey is consistent with the health plan care management team’s recommendations. This drives synchronicity between the health plan's perspective on evidence-based care and the member's intrinsic motivations.

Lastly, as health plans evolve their digital engagement strategies, they need content. And not just any content will do, especially in health care. The best content is something we have an opinion about. It must be above reproach, evidence-based, and unbiased, and it needs to come from a credible brand that people in a professional, clinical role trust. Content which is not created by the health plan satisfies that unbiased perspective for members.

The content and experiences also must be designed to help health consumers navigate the most important, high-impact decisions they may face. In this age of consumerism in health care, it is now more important than ever for experiences created for members to support diversity, equity, and inclusion. Members need to be able to see themselves and their families in the content. And, of course, health plans must be able to tackle engagement using whatever communication methods members prefer.

Thank you, Jason. What are the potential downstream impacts of improved member engagement?

I will set the stage so we can consider the stakes: there are well-known macro gaps we should be looking to close. Half of US adults do not take their medications as prescribed. At least 35% of US adults have obesity. More than 15% of US adults smoke. Only 40% of US adults get their flu shot, meaning 60% do not. The list goes on. There are so many opportunities to work together to close gaps in care, which helps us focus and prioritize engagement opportunities.

The question is, can we achieve a considerable impact in today's environment? Digital engagement is a must for health plans as well as provider organizations, hospitals, and health systems. The stark reality is our current health care workforce is not large enough to meet the demands of 76 million older adults. Additionally, there are 41 million digital natives in the United States who expect to engage with their services digitally, and this includes interactions with their health plan.

Surveys show these populations think digital resources benefit their personal health. They like the convenience of 24/7 access. They expect and appreciate content that is tailored to their preferences and speaks to their specific health needs and profile. They often prefer the anonymity of digital experiences when navigating sensitive topics like mental health, substance use disorders, or other areas.

Even a small improvement on engagement translates into huge impacts on outcomes and satisfaction, which also means cost savings for the whole industry.

How would you say COVID-19 changed member engagement?

The pandemic hit the accelerator on health consumer expectations around digital engagement for their care. Virtual visits, for example, were utilized at unheard-of volumes and now comprise a portion of health care interactions that is higher than ever before. Across specialties, virtual visits comprise an average of approximately 17% to 25% of health care interactions.

Regardless of the waning pandemic, consumer health and member behaviors have shifted permanently. Engagement via digital platforms will continue to grow. The time is now to take advantage of this shift in preferences and meet consumers’ needs.

What advice would you offer payers seeking to improve their member engagement strategies?

Recognize that members do not always think of their health plan first when making health decisions. Be proactive and get ahead of their interests and needs in a smart, scalable, data-driven way. Using data-driven outreach programs demonstrates the health plan's value in the member’s health journey and provides the member with the best support and guidance as early in the decision-making process as possible, so the member can land on the best treatment path for themselves or their family.

The second thing I would recommend is to embrace the notion that content must be involved in digital experiences. You cannot just have members hit the next button and scroll to the bottom of the screen. You must have content to move people along and educate them along the way. When you educate health consumers with evidence-based content, it is more probable the member will choose the treatment path that is best for them and includes their preferences, rather than basing their decisions on the first expert they see when they try to diagnose what is wrong.

The evidence for this strategy is compelling: if you can get ahead of consumer health decisions, 41% of members facing preference-sensitive health issues will choose less invasive services. That translates into less costly treatment options when members are well-educated early in the process.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I have had many interactions within the marketplace regarding how to transform and take advantage of digital engagement across various populations. Moving the needle does not require a complete lift and shift to a new paradigm. We can take small steps now, so there is no reason to wait.

About Mr Burum

Jason Burum is a health care industry thought leader with more than 20 years’ experience leading and deploying cloud-based (SaaS) digital health and collaborative clinical enterprise workflow solutions.

Jason joined Wolters Kluwer in 2019 as vice president of patient engagement. In this capacity, he oversees all facets of the patient engagement business. Jason was most recently the vice president of sales, business development, and marketing at RMDY Health, a provider of digital therapeutics SaaS solutions for life science, health systems, payers, and medical device organizations.

Jason held multiple leadership roles during his 14-year career with Healthwise, a provider of patient education for health systems and payers, where he ran sales, marketing, and product strategy, and ultimately served as chief commercial/client officer during the last 3 years of his tenure.

Throughout his career, Jason has worked with health plans and other population health organizations that manage care for high priority consumer health cohorts. His work has involved aiding organizations to determine the best ways to scale and automate care management, engage members, and motivate patients to be proactive in their care journeys.

Jason holds a BBA in business marketing and management from University of Portland.