When was the last time you were glad to get a call at home from your bank, credit card company, or health plan?  You may have a great relationship with these companies, but being interrupted in the middle of dinner with your family or on your way out the door does not encourage a positive interaction. 

In an increasingly busy world, where consumers are constantly bombarded with calls featuring various offers, an outbound telephone message from a health plan is likely to be lost in the mix.  The message from the health plan may contain valuable health information or an invitation to participate in a free health management program, but despite how valuable the information may be, the chance to engage at a time when the member is willing can be difficult to come by.

That is why it is so critical for health plans to make the most of inbound calls from members.  When a member places an inbound call, they have an increased sense of trust – they initiated the call – and it is much more likely that they have time to speak.  It is a perfect time to introduce wellness information, program referrals, reminders, etc.  The member is already thinking about their health care, and will be much more likely to absorb the information presented when compared with an outbound call that comes out of the blue.

Increasing Member Engagement Through Nurse Triage

The Nurse Advice Line service can be a perfect inbound engagement point for a health plan. Members are calling the nurse triage service because they have a need for trusted health information. They may be symptomatic or have questions about a recent diagnosis or a scheduled medical procedure.

Recent Gallup surveys have ranked registered nurses as the most trusted professionals in America

Members share a variety of information with the nurse including health history and medications they take, and the nurse provides the member with valuable health information and direction on where the member should seek care if needed. This engagement point is the perfect time for the nurse to introduce a wellness reminder: “Did you know that it is recommended that women over 50 have a bone density test every 2 years to screen for Osteoporosis?” Or if the member indicates certain information in their health history the nurse may let the member know about a disease management program: “Do you mind if I ask you a few questions to see if you qualify for a free program to help you manage your diabetes?”.

The Key to Success is to Develop a Process that Can Be Continuously Enhanced 

Health plans should ensure that their Nurse Advice Line has a process for identifying members for engagement opportunities.  Your Nurse Advice Line should use a combination of demographic information (age, gender, geographic location, etc.) and any information shared by the member (health conditions, medications, etc.) so that the nurse can engage the member on a variety of wellness topics, program referrals, or additional data collection.

To help engage those hard to reach members, health plans can also provide information that will help to flag members for engagement as appropriate. For example, a health plan may indicate that they have been trying to reach a specific member by phone, so that when that member calls the Nurse Advice Line, they can be flagged and engaged at that time.

Once the member is engaged with the Nurse Advice Line, a variety of workflow options are available – should the member be transferred directly to the program, should additional information be mailed or e-mailed to the member, should the member be placed on a notification file for future follow-up?

The details of the engagement should be tracked so that reports can display the results. For example:

• Did the member listen to the wellness information?
• Did they indicate that they planned to take action based on the information shared?
• Did the member agree to be transferred to the disease management program?

Flexibility is key – engagement points and criteria will change over time and may be seasonal (ex. flu shot reminders). Your Nurse Advice Line needs to have the flexibility to change work flows, scripting, and reporting as engagement opportunities change.

Members will continue to be difficult to contact on their home phone lines. Your Nurse Advice Line can be used as a valuable inbound engagement point for any health plan or health management organization. Health plans should examine the capabilities of their Nurse Advice Line and other inbound service lines to capitalize on these valuable engagement opportunities.