Aetna is continuing to build out its digital member experience with the launch of a new onboarding program designed to ease the process.
The insurer said Thursday that the platform will be available to 4 million new members during the welcome period for their enrollment. The program leads on Rich Communication Services, or RCS, to support navigation and connect members with key information and resources they may need after enrolling in a new plan through text messaging.
Nathan Frank, senior vice president and chief digital and technology officer for Aetna, told Fierce Healthcare that building trust with the member requires an end-to-end experience, and tech like the new onboarding program can play a key role in that effort.
"Onboarding isn't just about administration and signing people up and making sure that you have the right information," he said. "It's the moment when members decide whether their health plan feels simple, or is it overwhelming?"
"And we want that experience to be very personable," Frank continued. "We want it to be welcoming, and we want it to be clear for them."
The onboarding experience also provides a clear on-ramp to the insurer's broader suite of digital tools that support the member's health journey, allowing for a more personalized experience and driving greater adoption and engagement with the broader digital ecosystem.
Frank said the traditional member onboarding experience can be confusing for members, as they receive mailers, emails or calls simultaneously. They may not fully understand the information that's being presented to them, either.
A digital platform, he said, can collate outreach and support members in understanding the basics about their benefits.
In addition, through the onboarding process, Aetna can offer a warm handoff to its Care Paths program, for example, if the member has a chronic need. To further tie these platforms together, the company plans to roll out and scale RCS technology across other digital programs, including Care Paths and its Aetna Clinical Collaboration model.
The enhanced messaging capabilities will make it easier for the team to reach out to members through Care Paths, according to the announcement. And, in the Clinical Collaboration model, RCS will support a text-based discharge option that members can use depending on the communication channel they prefer.
Aetna has found that RCS-based messaging has led to an 80% increase in member engagement and a 26% decline in opt-outs through the platform. Frank said the team is actively developing new applications for RCS, too.
The insurer expects to continue building out its use of RCS throughout the year, it said in the announcement.
"We think that this is a great platform and opportunity for us to actually launch additional products and features going forward," Frank said.
He said as the team looks toward what's next, there's still significant opportunity to make it easier for members to connect with their care teams and to schedule appointments with their providers. Digital tools can simplify both identifying local providers that are in-network and the scheduling process, while also surfacing key information about costs, he said.
"We know that when members are digitally engaged, they can get the information they want, when they need it, in the right channel, leading to better outcomes," Frank said. "And so all of these things that we're investing in are really around taking the complexity out and enabling our members to navigate their personalized experience in healthcare."