Increase Acquisition & Retention With A Better Member Experience

An exceptional primary care experience is the most effective way to acquire and retain happier, healthier members — but that very experience can be difficult to influence when you have little control over care delivery. Thankfully, there is a solution. Advanced primary care (APC) puts organizations in control by helping members across all populations receive most of their care needs in primary care centers. And it’s just one of APC’s practical benefits.

How APC transforms the member experience

Vera's APC model goes beyond symptomatic treatment and improves the bio, psycho, and social health of members via primary care center teams that support health and wellness for the whole person.

Organizations that implement APC through Vera care centers give their members a more holistic and rewarding experience, including:

• Longer appointments that allow patients to talk and providers to listen — a space in which patients feel heard and feel comfortable developing trusting relationships with their provider
• Empathetic listening that goes beyond prescriptive medicine to build a relational connection and fuller understanding of a person’s whole health
• Clinically integrated health coaches who use the transtheoretical change model to help patients improve habits and achieve life goals
• Providers equipped to meet the specific needs of their members, whether general population or Medicare Advantage

Perhaps more than any time in recent history, organizations are understanding the compounding effects of low morale in the workplace — with an increasing awareness that work culture can ignite in positive or negative ways.

Much like COVID-19’s lasting impact on stress and overall wellness, poor health (for the individual or their families) can weigh heavily on a member’s mood and motivation.

But when members and their dependents have access to low- or no-cost primary care centers that offer everything from preventive screenings to behavioral health clinicians and trained health coaches — habits and health outcomes improve significantly.

At a macro level, healthy work cultures are more likely to innovate while fostering internal alignment and overall job satisfaction. And at a micro level, studies show better health leads to happier and more productive employees — an ideal environment for acquiring and retaining top talent.

What about specialty care?

In the Vera APC model, primary care centers provide a medical hub for members where 80-90 percent of all care is provided. This type of personalized care and coordination prevents gaps in communication and treatment.

It’s especially beneficial to populations who are often managing multiple chronic conditions. (But every population group benefits from simpler, more convenient healthcare that removes or greatly reduces out-of-pocket costs.)

Vera’s APC model goes further to give members :

• Primary care providers who have the time to identify and refer members to high-value, low-cost specialists when it’s appropriate.
• Primary care teams that proactively schedule and manage members’ specialty appointments.
• Integrated care coordination means these teams also update records between specialist appointments and primary care follow-up visits. 

It’s a behind-the-scenes effort that helps providers maintain a rich understanding of the patient’s health while creating a seamless member experience and improving quality scores. And when members feel supported, they are far more likely to take an active role in their health.

What about health outcomes?

An improved member experience will help with acquisition and retention of new members, but does it also solve for improved health outcomes? Absolutely.

Vera’s APC model offers robust informatics so providers can utilize diagnostics and make informed adjustments to their model based on members’ dynamic needs. Informatics are one key way organizations can leverage data to improve health outcomes.

Our informatics give organizations insights into:

• Population disease burdens
• Population cost trends
• Care center utilization

This actionable data equips organizations to improve outreach efforts for members across every segment of the population. It’s a valuable aid that helps tailor engagement programs and marketing materials through monthly outreach, newsletters, health resources, group registries, and cohort tracking. 

We’ve seen it proven time and time again: Overall population health outcomes improve when data serves organizations’ desire to meet their members exactly where they are. APC offers members real-world health improvements and holistic care support, while providing organizations with an effective recruiting tool.

Learn more about how organizations and their members are reaping the benefits of our proven APC model by visiting our newly updated APC guide. 

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on September 8, 2020, and has been recently updated to include the latest insights and best practices.