Health Insurers' Customer Communications Is Fractured

More than half of health insurers say they will invest in trigger-based communications to prompt consumers to improve their health. Yet, most plans have not realigned their organizational models and technology investment strategies to actually make it happen, according to a report from IDC Health Insights.

"Health Payer Consumer Communications: Strategies for Engagement", commissioned by Pitney Bowes Software, asked senior executives at 44 health plans about their consumer communications strategies and future investment plans.

The poll, which was taken between December 2011 and January 2012, suggests that although insurers are focused on engaging onsumers through the Internet, for example, the insurers are not coordinating their communications efforts. That often means that when one business unit--the marketing or customer service department, for example--initiates contact with a consumer, that information is not shared with other business units, including the disease management department, the claims unit, or the billing department.

"Consumer information is sent through corporate silos — unmanaged, unfocused, and frequently uncoordinated," the report states.

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