Mar 2023 Buyer’s Guide: Key Questions to Ask When Selecting a Well-being Platform for Your Health Plan

Selecting the best well-being platform for your health plan can be a difficult, time-consuming task. There are, of course, certain features and capabilities that you expect any platform to offer as standard equipment: health assessments, biometric screenings, corporate and individual challenges, incentives and rewards, device integration, educational content and others. But beyond these common features, how do you smartly and thoroughly compare and contrast the various solutions in the market today? Because there are a lot of choices, and they are not created equally.

You must do the homework to make the right decision, but we’re here to help you take a few shortcuts. Below are key questions you can ask to separate a good solution from the best solution for your plan.

PERSONALIZATION

About 75 percent of U.S. consumers want their healthcare experiences to be more personalized. Your members are looking for your health plan to provide the information and services they need to manage their health and well-being on a personal level.

Key questions:

• Does your platform provide a unique experience for each member with an individual step-by-step guide to better health?
• Do you apply machine-learning algorithms and leverage data from multiple sources to personalize the experience?

SEAMLESS EXPERIENCE

The enormous popularity of point solutions, the tools and services that help members address a specific health or well-being issue, is becoming an issue. Managing and optimizing such a wide array of multiple vendors is inefficient and time-consuming for health plans as well as confusing for their members.

Key questions:

• Can you integrate your current vendors into your platform as well as guide members to our programs?
• Can you consolidate your well-being capabilities with your plan’s benefits and services?
• Can you guide members to the right healthcare services and support value-based care?

CONFIGURATION

A one-size-fits-all well-being platform severely limits your capability to serve the needs of both your members and your employer clients. In contrast, a highly configurable digital engagement platform is able to meet the exact specifications required by your health plan.

Key questions:

• Can you configure your portfolio of solutions to meet our business objectives? For example, can you close a specific gap in care by using interventions and focused communication campaigns that target a demographic that shares common attributes?
• Can you highlight and promote third-party programs that have a high priority for your health plan?
• Can you provide a customized experience for your major employer groups, including both steerage and gaps-in-care solutions?
• Can you private label your platform so your brand is always front and center when our members engage?

BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE

Behavior change is the key to building a healthier membership, and habit formation is the key to behavior change. To help your members make permanent behavior changes, your well-being platform needs to incorporate the latest peer-reviewed and scientifically tested behavior science.

Key questions:

• Does your platform leverage data and psychological insights to improve the formation of healthy habits?
• Can you describe the behavioral science concepts you’ve incorporated into your platform?

CARE NAVIGATION

When your members make poor healthcare decisions or don’t fully understand their benefits, it drives up the cost of care. Care navigation can help your members make better, more informed decisions.

Key questions:

• Can your platform enhance care coordination, guide members to preferred providers, and support their treatment decisions?
• Can you help your members understand and utilize their benefits?

SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH

Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) drive as much as 80 percent of health outcomes. Health plans can significantly improve population health by reaching out beyond the walls of the hospital and doctor’s office and addressing SDoH factors.

Key questions:

• Are SDoH questions included in your Health Assessment (HA)?
• Can you combine HA information with socio-economic data from multiple sources to identify SDoH risk factors?
• Can you inform and connect members with the specific resources in their community that can lower their SDoH health risks?
• Can you identify and analyze SDoH vulnerabilities within each of the 84,000 census tracts in the United States?

DATA ANALYTICS

Data is the foundation of building a more personalized experience for consumers. “Know your customer” is the necessary first step to create direct, personal and meaningful connections with members that meet their expectations.

Key questions:

• Do you share all of your data and provide direct and unlimited access to your reporting portal?
• Can you supplement your standard data reports with ad-hoc reporting? If so, how long does it take to fulfill such a request?
• Can you leverage personas to gain key health and well-being insights about your members?

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH

Annual healthcare costs are 350 percent higher for people who have a behavioral health condition, such as anxiety, depression or a substance abuse disorder. That’s why it’s critical to identify members with behavioral health issues and then guide them to appropriate programs and resources.

Key questions:

• Do you provide personalized educational content and digital self-guided programming that can address each member’s specific behavioral health needs?
• Do you offer proactive Anti-Stigma Campaigns that help overcome the shame often associated with behavioral health issues?
• Do you deliver text and email messaging campaigns to either the general population or under-treated populations to normalize behavioral health treatment?

IMPLEMENTATION

Switching to a new health and well-being platform can seem like a monumental, time-consuming task. Successfully making this transition requires a health and well-being vendor with a robust, reliable and scalable IT infrastructure.

Key questions:

• Do you have expertise in implementing both large, complex health plans as well as smaller regional plans, providing support to acquire/keep your new/existing members?
• What are your client satisfaction scores from previous implementations?

If you commit to asking each of the questions highlighted above, you will dramatically simplify the decision-making process for selecting a well-being platform that best serves your plan. Some of these capabilities might be higher priorities for your plan than others. But at the end of the day, these categories will tell you everything you need to know about the breadth and depth of the solutions you are evaluating.

Want to see how Onlife responds to these questions? Schedule a 1:1 consultation and demo today, and put us on the hot seat!