4 Things to Improve Communications
Whether you just finished open enrollment, are in the thick of open enrollment, or it is a couple of months off, communicating your company’s health benefits is a year-round job, not a one-time event.
And why is effective communication of your health benefits so important? First, your company is investing significant dollars into these programs–think 6, 7, 8 figures for most companies, annually.
“Only 4% of Americans understand important health insurance concepts.”
Second, benefits are confusing. Per a survey completed by Policygenius1, “Only 4% of Americans understand important health insurance concepts” (deductible, coinsurance, copay, and out-of-pocket maximum). Those terms make up 100% of most health plans, which means there is a large disconnect.
Lastly, effective communication helps members and HR teams. Members benefit by understanding how to navigate and use their benefits. HR teams benefit by receiving fewer questions (freeing up time) and experiencing less stress, knowing their members are cared for.
Poor health benefits communication is kind of like having a car, but not knowing how to use it; there is a valuable resource at your disposal, yet it sits there untouched. Similarly, a 100% covered preventive visit is a valuable benefit, but if no one uses it or knows about it, how valuable is it?
“A 100% covered preventive visit is a valuable benefit, but if no one uses it or knows about it, how valuable is it?”
So how do we improve the health of your health benefits communications? Here are four things to consider as you create your communications strategy:
- Medium – What channels of communication are you leveraging? Email, posters, mailers, QR codes, webinars, podcasts? The mediums to communicate are plentiful; to beef up your presence, it’s best to have a mixed-use approach.
- Consistency – Communicating once a year during open enrollment isn’t enough. Consider a drip campaign on a monthly or quarterly basis to make consistent communication part of the culture and expectation. This consistency will catch employees at different times of the year and may be the right message at the right time. Drip campaign ideas: weekly/monthly/quarterly benefits email, quarterly webinars, educational webinars by vendors.
- Workforce – Who are you communicating to? Know your audience. What generation are they in? Are they blue collar, white collar, mixture? Do they have a company email? Can they receive text messages? Considering your audience,
- Topics & Under Communicated Benefits – To get the creative juices flowing here are a few topics or touchpoints your company could use to increase communication:
- Importance of having a primary care physician and utilizing the 100% covered preventive visit each year.
- May is Mental Health Awareness Month; highlight any mental health resources and Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) your benefit plan includes.
- Dental, vision, ancillary benefit education.
- How to find a provider; hosted by carriers.
- Back to School checklist.
- Patient advocacy; how to ask for generics, estimated bills before procedures, itemized bills after procedures.
The effective communication of your benefit plans plays a vital role in employee perception of benefits and the value/use of your benefits. What one or two things can you take from this article and start incorporating to improve your health benefits communications?