Power of Partnerships

Delivering an unparalleled experience

“Always putting our members first” has been our company’s credo from the beginning. Along with our relentless pursuit of quality and affordable health care, it is what has helped us grow to 2.9 million members and earn our place among the nation’s best health plans for member satisfaction and quality. That work is ongoing and intensifying.

We know “the system” can be frustrating and confusing for today’s health care consumers. That’s why we use member feedback and insights, plus the latest data analytics, to understand what we can do differently in order to deliver an unparalleled consumer experience for our members.

The top three priorities that emerged from our in-depth research in 2019 were: improving plan understanding, eliminating cost surprises and managing costs to improve value. Not surprisingly, these are priorities not just for our members, but also for our employer customers and our provider partners.

Our new partnership with PillPack by Amazon Pharmacy, a full-service online pharmacy, addresses those issues by offering a convenient, personalized service that removes the guesswork from managing multiple prescriptions. With our new Pillpack app, eligible members who take four or more medications can receive timely home delivery of a dispenser with their monthly medications, sorted by dose, with a picture of each pill and the day and time it should be taken. In addition to making it easier to order, track, use and refill medications, the Pillpack app provides cost notifications for each order and keeps a record of overall medication spending.

Our consumer feedback and data analysis also helped us identify an opportunity to eliminate cost surprises during our members’ routine medical check-ups. Each month, about 30,000 members have their annual check-ups, a no-cost visit. Follow-up diagnostic lab work, however, may involve a co-pay or deductible. To make sure our members are not surprised if they are billed for these lab tests, we developed a Price Preview tool that triggers notification to the member 45 days in advance, with information about their potential cost responsibilities for certain lab tests and how they can plan for their visit and manage their cost and quality choices.

We know how complex health care can be. To help our members and the public better understand key health issues, in 2019 we became the first health plan in our market to launch a nonprofit health news service, Coverage. Drawing on the expertise of our in-house clinicians and insights into health trends from our 2.9 million members, we produce timely, original news stories available via our website and a free weekly e-newsletter.