Health plans are always looking for new ways to engage with their members. Whether it’s to get members to complete Health Risk Assessments (HRAs) or to promote long-term healthy behaviors, finding effective outreach methods is critical. But, as most Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) know, this is easier said than done.

Medicaid MCOs benefited from the freeze on redeterminations during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of the freeze, Medicaid MCOs have experienced significant member growth.

There's the old saying, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) know this difficulty when encouraging healthy, positive behaviors among their members. From completing health assessments to performing wellness tasks, getting members to act on compliance requirements is a costly and time-consuming affair.

Employer’s number one concern during the pandemic is ensuring the safety of their employees. For most of the lockdowns, this meant changing workplace policies and enabling more work from home opportunities. Before the pandemic, only 6% of the U.S. workforce worked remotely, and over 75% had never completed work outside the office. During the peak period of lockdowns, 71% of the total U.S. workforce worked from home. These new measures cut down the risk of infection and improved the well-being of employees.

Ever since the first mobile app was created in 1997 by Nokia (the popular arcade game snake) and popularized by Steve Jobs, phones have been increasingly using apps. However, some studies have shown that the number of available apps has begun to overwhelm users. A recent survey from Gartner found that 41% of mobile users have not downloaded a new app in the last six months and that mobile users spend 85% of their time on their phones using only five apps. This trend affects Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) and contributes to the growing problem of why engagement rates among members for mobile apps are down. With more than 1.96 million apps available on the app store, this ever-increasing trend is called app fatigue.

Rewards serve as the primary tool for Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) to incentivize healthy behaviors by their members. However, despite the investment some health plans put into these programs, they don’t always reach their intended goals. Rewards are used to promote healthy behavior to drive completion rates, but results are sometimes disappointing. If this has happened to your organization, don’t drop the idea of using rewards just yet. Instead, here are three ways you can create a rewards program that drive the results you want.

How can you get members to do what you need them to do? This is the number one challenge facing many Medicaid Health Organizations (MCOs). Member engagement is crucial for encouraging healthy activities that can improve outcomes and drive down costs for your organization. Plus, it’s the best way to make a positive impact in the lives of your members.

For the healthcare industry, it's evident that the cloud is here to stay. Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) are no longer trying to determine whether the cloud is right for them. Instead, the conversation has evolved to determine how best to leverage the cloud to meet their organization's strategic goals. The cloud has proven to be an effective tool, but there are a few avenues for MCOs to maximize this resource better and achieve their desired outcomes.

For Medicaid plans, there has been a shift in the way members communicate. With a clear preference for texting over calls, it’s important to align with this preference. Further, SMS is an efficient channel of communication and can help your organization serve more members while improving quality. Whether it’s being used to send informational messages and reminders to the members, the benefits are numerous.

The COVID-19 pandemic has driven more businesses online than ever before. With health care plans growing their number of older members, this may not be welcome news. Even though remote mobile service is a growing industry trend, a study from the Pew Research Center found only 26% of internet users aged 65 and over were “very confident” when using smartphones. Optimizing your plan’s mobile design to accommodate their needs should be a key focus heading into 2021.