Member Communications During COVID-19

At your request, we are again reaching out to help our membership leverage each other during this challenging time. Many of you are still wrestling with determination of the right communications strategies and tactics to deploy in response to the dynamically changing environment caused by COVID-19. If you will take just five minutes to complete this short survey, we will report survey results back to you as quickly as we can. We hope these results will assist both you and your members.
Thank you for your timely response!

Question Title

* 1. What are the most important communications topics that you are prioritizing from this point on during this pandemic? Please rank in order:

Educating on health, hygiene, and social behaviors

Encouraging members to seek preventive screenings

Encouraging members to seek previously deferred elective care

Promoting care to those who are at higher risk of severe illness

Promoting programs related to the social determinants of health (SDoH)

Promoting test availability

Providing financial information (e.g., copay changes, premium relief)

Reassuring members that it is safe to go back to in-person care

Reminding or educating on telehealth

Sharing behavioral health information

Sharing benefits administration, network, or other administrative or plan information

Sharing drug benefit-related information

Question Title

* 2. Has your outbound communication channel mix changed since COVID-19 started? Please check all that apply.

	More	Less	same	Do not use it
Email	Email More	Email Less	Email same	Email Do not use it
SMS text message	SMS text message More	SMS text message Less	SMS text message same	SMS text message Do not use it
Mobile app	Mobile app More	Mobile app Less	Mobile app same	Mobile app Do not use it
Live agent	Live agent More	Live agent Less	Live agent same	Live agent Do not use it
Automated phone call	Automated phone call More	Automated phone call Less	Automated phone call same	Automated phone call Do not use it
Print	Print More	Print Less	Print same	Print Do not use it

Question Title

* 3. Have you seen an increase in overall call center activity in the last 30 – 60 days?

Yes

Question Title

* 4. Whether or not you have seen an increase, what are the COVID-19 topics people are calling about? Please check all that apply

Clinical questions related to member’s personal health (e.g., fever, chills, shortness of breath, etc.)

Continued use of telehealth, even when in-person care is available

Cost or coverage of testing and other COVID-19 issues

Impact of COVID-19 on their benefits (i.e., no more home health visits, early refills, etc.)

Network questions due to provider closures, lockdown, etc.

Personal health behavior or risk-related questions

Safety concerns

Testing availability and locations

Question Title

* 5. Are you supporting any of the following initiatives to assist in drawing members back into care settings? Please check all that apply.

Increased use of in-home visits

Use of alternative sites of care—via direct investment or partnership

Use of mobile units

Use of virtual wellness to replace onsite

Other (please specify)

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* 6. Are you partnering with providers to help members seek care? Yes or No

Yes

Question Title

* 7. If yes? Are you:

Incorporating provider names or brands into call scripts, emails, or other communications templates

Co-branding with signage, promotion, or other approaches

Creating collateral including posters, videos, or other to give to providers

Supporting mobile units staffed with providers in your network

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 8. Which medical situations are your highest priority for patient re-engagement? Please rank:

Childhood immunization

COPD

Cancer-related

Obesity/diabetes care

Kidney

Screenings, including colonoscopy, mammogram, etc.

Orthopedics

Gastro-intestinal

Plastic surgery

Ob/Gyn

Fertility

Question Title

* 9. Patients are reporting that providers are adding a COVID-19 sanitation fee in addition to their co-pay. Do you have plans to subsidize that cost?

Yes, we are going to cover all that cost

No, we are not going to cover any of that cost

We will cost share with members

I had not heard that an extra fee was being added

Question Title

* 10. CMS just announced that the member experience-related Stars measures will move from a 2x weighting to 4x. Do you anticipate increasing your focus on member experience? Yes or No

Yes

Question Title

* 11. If you answered yes, please check all the areas that you anticipate increasing your focus on.

Capture more communication preferences from members

Develop more personalized communications

Invest in technology that will improve experience

Set-up concierge call centers

Use incentives in engagement strategies

If yes on incentives please write the type of incentive (e.g., gift card, etc.)

Question Title

* 12. Finally, what are your most significant member engagement-related challenges? Please rank:

Governance

Insufficient use or enablement of digital channels

Reliance upon print as primary outbound channel

Poor engagement of members who would benefit from available SDoH-related programs

Insufficient measurement of communications effectiveness

Consistency in call center experience

Immature marketing/communications automation

Lack of insights regarding best practices that drive behavior change (e.g., behavioral economics)

Pressures from cost-reduction initiatives

Lack of ability to personalize