Health Plan Applies Personal Approach to Improve Customer Satisfaction

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich., Mar. 20, 2006— Sometimes the difference between getting adequate health care vs. great health care is a result of a time-honored approach—talking to a human being. Care Choices, a health benefits management company, located in Farmington Hills, realized that when it implemented programs consisting of proactive phone calls to members, their customer satisfaction ratings increased.

“Connecting with our Members,” is a member outreach program aimed to improve customer service, as well as member health by having person-to-person conversations with members about their needs. New members to Care Choices, for example, receive a phone call from a Customer Service representative who welcomes the member to the plan, explains how their benefits work, conducts a mini health risk assessment and answers any questions a new member might have.

There are several advantages to this personalized approach, because consumers who understand their health care plan:

• Make more informed decisions about their health care options
• Increase their chances of being healthier
• Communicate more effectively with their doctors
• Take advantage of plan services because they know what is offered

There are also many advantages for the health plan, including:

• Identifying members who have health care needs and connecting them with health coaches.
• Immediate member feedback helps the plan improve services and products.
• Improved customer satisfaction.
• Ability to steer members to the Web to process routine requests. This has the added benefit of freeing-up customer service lines to help members with more complex cases.

Care Choices also uses this personal approach in its health management programs as well. Sometimes known as “health coaching,” Care Choices makes personal phone calls to members enrolled in a variety of health management programs, such as: asthma, cardiac, depression and diabetes care, and weight management. These calls are made by a Care Choices registered nurse to plan members. Each of these nurses has a master’s degree and over 25 years of experience in various clinical settings. In addition, the nurses receive training in health coaching methodologies.

Care Choices also collaborates with Leade Health, Inc. (LHI) to offer a free Quit Tobacco Program to its members. The health coaches specialize in helping members quit tobacco. In fact, 75% of LHI coaches have a master’s degree in a health related field and an average of 11 years of experience at hire. Coaches must have training in behavior change, have excellent communication skills over the telephone, and the ability to demonstrate effective listening and empathy.

The primary goal of health coaching is to support patients in self-management of chronic diseases or health-threatening habits, by helping them develop the skills and confidence to manage their disease and to make necessary behavior changes.

“The results have been very positive,” said Alice Albu, RN, MSN, director, quality management, Care Choices. “In our Quit Tobacco (smoking cessation) program, this personal approach has led to a twelve-month quit rate of 33 percent for 2005, representing a two percent increase from 2004. The quit rates for Care Choices have consistently exceeded the national standards (12-20 percent) published by the U.S. Public Health Service in its Clinical Practice Guideline on Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence.”

Perhaps more importantly, members are happy. Care Choices members, according to the 2005 Consumer Assessment of Health Plans survey, rated the plan as number one in Michigan for customer satisfaction. “These numbers are significant,” said Miriam Bielski, director, customer service, Care Choices. “We now have the quantitative evidence to show our employer groups, agents and physicians, what customers have been telling us about the qualitative strength of our plan. Our tagline is: We take your health care personally…we really stay true to that claim.”

About Care Choices
Care Choices is a health benefits management company and a subsidiary of Trinity Health, one of the nation’s leading providers of health care services. Since 1986, Care Choices has been providing quality health care coverage to thousands of members throughout Michigan. The Care Choices suite of products includes Care Choices HMO, Care Choices PPO, Preferred Choices PPO and consumer-directed plans. Care Choices offers a broad, fully integrated network of physicians, hospitals and other healthcare professionals all sharing a strong commitment to improving the health status of the communities it serves by delivering effective and affordable health care. Care Choices HMO maintains the highest rating available of Excellent by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). Care Choices HMO was the top-rated commercial health plan in Michigan # 12 among 257 commercial plans in the nation according to “U.S. News & World Report/NCQA America’s Best Health Plans, 2005.”