Success Speaks: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Talks Meeting Member Demands in Healthcare
When looking for a payments success story in the world of healthcare, you’d be wise to turn your attention to the Great Lakes and the work done by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBS MI). In a recent webinar with AHIP (America’s Health Insurance Plans) and ACI, Faran Farooqi, Strategic Capability Implementation and Operations for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, shared his insights into how his organization addressed the challenges of today to deliver a great payments experience for their members.
The Health Insurance Payments Landscape
BCBS MI was facing challenges that almost all insurers face: how to satisfy a wide array of members, including Medicaid and Medicare patients, while also meeting a new host of challenges presented by the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
This was pushed even further by a surprising “competitor” of sorts. “We had very limited payment functions and ways members could engage us in comparison to the online experience a typical retail member has today, for example with Amazon.com,” said Farooqi. “It was a really big transition for us to explore member options to help bridge that experience they were accustomed to.”
Driving Member Satisfaction with Payments
Is it fair to compare the likes of Amazon to health insurers? Maybe not, but consumers are doing it daily, forcing all companies to re-examine their billing and payment processes. It had become clear to Farooqi that meeting member expectations meant delivering an experience on par with that of a top eCommerce business. This is a lesson that all health insurance providers should immediately begin taking to heart.
Why? Because when it comes to member satisfaction, billing and payments has proven to raise member satisfaction by 25%.*
The bad news is that health plan members report that the member experience did not improve over the past year. Just as troubling is the news that more than 40% of members report their health plan did not provide a good payments experience in customer service, communication, premiums, rates and fees.* This can be blamed on many things, including complacency, but as Farooqi explained, consumer expectations have shifted dramatically thanks to the payment experiences offered by top companies like Amazon.
The good news is that BCBS MI provides invaluable lessons on how healthcare insurance providers can adapt and win in this new payments ecosystem.
Favorite Ways to Pay
So what are the payment options that members are clamoring for? Here are a few you should consider.
Mobile
In today’s world, mobile is king. The ability to quickly and easily pay bills or receive messages from a device that’s seemingly always (literally) at our sides is extremely powerful. This type of convenience most closely mirrors that of eCommerce, providing an experience consumers love and expect from all industries.
Mobile billing and payment options also heighten the impact of other conveniences, such as consolidated billing and tailored messaging. Imagine receiving your dental and medical bill in one statement, then receiving a text notification that the bill is either due or has been paid. You think members might like never having to pay a late fee? We bet your bottom line would love these increased collections as well.
Recurring Payments
Set it and forget it. Five words that can mean an increase in collected revenue and satisfaction. Recurring payment options, especially recurring card payments, are in high demand and it’s easy to see why. Paying bills without physically having to remember them or click a button (or three) ensures members will always pay on time.
For health insurers, offering recurring payments that include debit card, credit card and ACH payments provides a hands-off experience that gives consumers the power to choose their favorite ways to pay.
Real-Time Payments
According to Lipis Advisors, real-time payments in healthcare will grow at more than 100% CAGR from 2018-2022. We’ve made the case for real-time payments before but it bears repeating. Members' ability to pay in real time keeps their accounts balanced and ensures they won’t suffer bounced checks or overdraft fees. There’s also the added bonus of delivering refunds or reimbursements to members in real time, which will always be a crowd pleaser.
The switch to real-time payments is a matter of when, not if. Insurance providers looking to gain an edge will be wise to begin their journey to real-time payments ASAP.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Builds Payments Success
So how did BCBS MI achieve their goals? First, they gathered all the stakeholders, including ACI, to create the best business case possible. “Being able to engage with both the ACI team on site and the folks that were on the phone really helped propel us in the right direction.”
With the teams aligned, it was time to get to work. “When ACI came in, they really showed us there are various ways of thinking about this (payments),” said Farooqi. “It was really brilliant how the ACI technical resources and our sales support team were all in sync in helping us craft a solution and a roadmap.”
BCBS MI first introduced guest credit and debit card payments, allowing members to pay without the burden of creating an account. With this improvement came a decrease in calls to the call center, reducing this cost for the organization.
They also optimized their bill presentment experience. Farooqi was quick to mention that by adopting the retailer mindset, the team was able to create an omni-channel platform that really took advantage of a variety of touchpoints. Not only does this improve the effectiveness of the communications, it delivers a personalized experience for members.
By the end of this undertaking, BCBS MI had gone from 8 payment options to more than 31. But most importantly, the ROI showed immediate benefits.
“Our internal investment was paid off in 10 months.”
Farooqi already has his sights set on the future, with strategies to implement payment options through alternative payment providers including Amazon Alexa, Google Home and Apple Pay.
Build Your Strategy Today
With the 2019 enrollment season quickly approaching, the time is now to begin re-examining your billing and payment processes and start building your strategy to increase member satisfaction. Contact us to schedule a consultation with an ACI payments expert who can help you expand your offerings and enrollments.
To learn more, view the on-demand webinar.
*Third party survey of ACI clients. Forrester Research, Inc. “The US Health Insurance Customer Experience Index, 2017”, September 27, 2017.
Related Blog Posts
Positioning PSPs for Success in 2020: Scalability, Flexibility and Globality
We used to say that NFRs (non-functional requirements) such as scalability and availability didn’t really make for attention-grabbing headlines, but in fact, 2019 has shown us that these NFRs are often not far away from the biggest stories. A major outage or downtime – be it for bank or merchant – makes headlines in its own right, but we’re increasingly seeing a clear link between NFRs and a company’s growth trajectory. Those companies that are generating positive awareness from their ambitious global expansion plans, innovative customer experiences, or unique approach to fighting fraud – they are achieving this off the back of technology solutions that deliver world-class non-functional requirements. Scalability, flexibility and globality underpin these growth stories – and this message comes out clearly in speaking with some of our leading payment service providers (PSPs), which are supporting the growth of thousands of merchants around the world.
What Will 2020 Bring for Payments in Latin America?
2019 was yet another year of payments disruption throughout the LATAM region. Thanks in large part to the proliferation of fintechs, Latin American banks and processors have been under immense pressure to modernize their offerings, while also gaining the agility to quickly bring new products to market.
Request for Payment and Other Real-Time Payments Trends That Will Shape 2020
In 2020, the conversation around real-time payments will increasingly be about what banks can do with real-time, as they move beyond setting up to support real-time payments schemes. New use cases will emerge – but there are a few main trends that are likely to shape the direction of real-time in the year ahead.
2020: The Year of (Near) Cashless Transactions?
Happy belated New Year and raise your hand if you make and/or follow New Year’s resolutions. I used to and then realized they were exercises in futility. But, over this past holiday, I thought I’d give the resolution game one more shot. This one was more a realistic goal than it was a resolution, but who can really tell the difference anyway!?! I decided to go cashless over the holidays, which can still be somewhat challenging for many in the US (though my friends in other countries are probably ridiculing me right now). I was traveling (to NYC and Florida) and wanted to pack as little as possible (in both my luggage and my wallet). I’m all about loyalty card points these days, hence the 2 back-to-back trips.
Three Merchant Payment Trends to Watch in 2020
In 2019, merchants everywhere were challenged by pressure from new entrants, the continued breakdown of traditional industry boundaries and growing customer preference for a digitally-led or digitally-influenced purchasing experience.
Learn How to Claim a Greater Slice of the Mobile Payments Pie
U.S. Wireless Players: $14.3B is at stake – are you in?
Mobile commerce is thriving as consumers seek out convenient, quick and secure shopping experiences. And transaction growth on mobile devices is outpacing traditional desktop and in-store channels, aided by click and collect and one-click purchasing trends. For U.S. telcos, the message is clear: proactively add value to the payments process, or risk missing out on increasing your portion of the growing mobile payments market.
How to Survive Black Friday and Cyber Monday… and Provide a Great Consumer Experience
As Black Friday and Cyber Monday approach, shoppers and merchants alike await amazing deals and a welcome boost in sales, respectively. I took a moment to speak with two of ACI’s merchant payments and fraud experts, Andrew Marshman (merchant payments lead, Europe) and Erika Dietrich (VP, Global Fraud Prevention Risk Services) about what merchants need to know as they head forth into one of the biggest shopping seasons of the year.
The Invisibility Cloak of Payments: What Are the Consequences?
If you could pick any superpower, what would you pick? Children often pick "invisibility.” Oh, the possibilities of being invisible! What fun! You can walk into a candy store and take all the candy you want, you can stay downstairs late with your parents and listen to what they’re saying, you can sneak out without anybody noticing… But when you think about it, there are also disadvantages that come with this superpower.
Looking Back at Money20/20 USA: Where Do We Go From Here?
Now that the dust has settled on another successful Money20/20 USA in Las Vegas, it allows for a moment of reflection on what some of the announcements and trends mean for the ever-changing financial industry. Discussions spanned a variety of topics, including the future of international and digital expansion of PSPs, how organizations developing cryptocurrency wallets plan to enter the payments space, and how challenger banks plan to revolutionize the banking experience. Inclusivity was a recurring theme throughout – and nowhere was this more evident than in the Rise Up program.
Women in Payments: Driving Diversity in the Payments Industry
As the Australia Women in Payments Symposium approaches, I took a moment to chat with ACI’s Felicity Blake, country manager, New Zealand, who will be participating (among other experts) in a panel on Rising to the Diversity Challenge.