Health Plan Customer Satisfaction Stabilizes in Midst of Massive Industry Shifts, J.D. Power Finds
"Commercial health plans have been battling a perfect storm of rising costs, payment reforms and consolidation, which has distracted them from focusing on improving overall customer satisfaction in the sector compared with other industries," said
Following are some of the key findings of the 2018 study:
- Satisfaction with health plans lower than most other industries: On an industry basis, commercial member health plan customer satisfaction scores average 712 on a 1,000-point scale, which is 100 points lower than the average score in the top-performing industry group, real estate.
- Members still struggle to understand how their plan works: In an industry that continues to evolve, members are struggling to keep pace. Fewer than half (47%) of members completely understand how their plan works. A pain point for members is understanding when pre-approvals for medical procedures, services or treatments are needed.
- Communication is key in setting expectations, driving member trust: Health plan member satisfaction scores are significantly higher when members view their health plan as a trusted partner. Increasingly, the key drivers of member trust are rooted in ongoing engagement with the plan. Noted drivers include using cost estimators or cost-tracking tools provided by the plan and submitting information to the health plan directly, either via an activity tracker or another method.
- Health plan members want faster, better customer service: Member expectations of customer service are being affected by their experiences with other industries in that, regardless of healthcare's complexity, members want faster access to care. With a greater number of retail clinics and urgent care locations across America, consumers have more options than ever before, yet satisfaction with choice of clinics and urgent care locations covered by the plan is down year over year. This suggests health plans have an untapped opportunity to better leverage these access points for care.
Study Rankings
Satisfaction is highest among health plan members in these six regions:
BlueCross BlueShield plans rank highest in 10 regions: East South Central (
To see comprehensive health plan rankings for all 22 U.S. regions, see the online press release at http://www.jdpower.com/pr-id/2018061.
The Commercial Member Health Plan Study, now in its 12th year, measures satisfaction among members of 163 health plans in 22 regions throughout
For more on the study, visit http://www.jdpower.com/resource/commercial-member-health-plan-study.
J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics. These capabilities enable
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