As healthcare organizations move to population health and value-based care, they are looking to achieve greater patient satisfaction, optimal health outcomes and lower costs – all at the same time. Information technology has a big role to play in the shift to population health and value-based care, and mobile IT can play a big part.
Take Inland Empire Health Plan, for example.
Customized, interactive text messages are helping to improve health plan members’ knowledge of Inland’s offerings and promoting self-activation among Medicaid members, according to a study by Inland Empire Health Plan, a Medicaid and Medicare health plan in Southern California, and mobile messaging technology vendor mPulse Mobile.
Delivering actionable information about members’ health is a priority for Inland Empire and other Medicaid-oriented health plans. With a 98 percent read-rate, text messages are a high-impact, low-cost method of engagement, mPulse Mobile contended.
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In the Inland Empire study, the Medicaid Plan system from mPulse Mobile enabled tailored, two-way mobile engagement based on member demographics, behavior and response sentiment, allowing Inland Empire to reach, engage and activate members to help facilitate improved overall health, the two organizations said.
During the three-month study, in fact, 91 percent of the 17,000 participating Inland Empire members found that text messages improved their overall knowledge of Inland Empire services, while 10 percent of members participated in health challenges and of those 33 percent completed them.
Inland noted that the engagement score, based on response behavior and sentiment, for the study group was 2.5 times greater than the control group.
Receiving timely information regarding available healthcare services can empower individuals to use more cost-effective resources, the study also found. For example, the emergency room is the costliest setting to receive care, and Medicaid members visit the emergency room at twice the rate of individuals with private insurance – thus, the positive impact of two-way text messaging on appropriate resource utilization is encouraging, the two organizations concluded.
Indeed, the number of members who reported that they would visit the emergency room for a minor condition dropped from 11 percent to 4 percent, the study found.
“We’re eager to apply these learnings to our broader member base and continue working to implement innovative mobile strategies to improve population health,” said Susan Arcidiacono, Inland Empire Health Plan’s chief marketing officer.
Twitter: @SiwickiHealthIT
Email the writer: bill.siwicki@himssmedia.com
