LOS ANGELES – mPulse Mobile, a leader in conversational AI and digital engagement solutions, announces collaborations with over 30 managed healthcare organization customers to leverage digital engagement strategies to support the redetermination of Medicaid and CHIP enrollees following the end of the continuous enrollment period that was part of the Covid-19 public health emergency (PHE). These collaborations will ensure millions of low-income Americans retain the health coverage they need, and will provide digital resources to help individuals who no longer qualify for Medicaid transition to public exchange plans.
On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed a federal spending bill containing legislation decoupling continuous enrollment from the PHE effective April 1, 2023. Medicaid and CHIP enrollees will have to go through the recertification process to retain coverage. Medicaid Managed Care organizations (MCOs) have a 12-month timeframe to initiate and two additional months to complete renewals for their members in collaboration with local and state agencies. On January 23, 2023, the FCC issued a declaratory ruling reaffirming that the provision of a mobile phone number by a member to their state agency during the enrollment process constitutes prior express consent. Therefore, text outreach is an effective tool to drive the recertification process.
“Medicaid plans face a large administrative challenge to ensure their enrollees have continuous access to care,” said Bob Farrell, CEO of mPulse Mobile. “Many Medicaid beneficiaries tend to change addresses frequently, so traditional mailed recertification communications are less effective, whereas mobile phone ownership is well above 90% and text is utilized across populations. mPulse has pioneered the use of text outreach across lower income populations and individuals who face SDoH impacts, and we’ve consistently demonstrated our ability to engage and activate these hard-to-reach populations to take positive action for their own health.”
mPulse is working with a broad set of national and regional MCOs to deploy digital outreach programs to support members through the recertification process. mPulse’s conversational AI capabilities allow health plans to send out reminders with embedded links to online sites for recertification and ask questions about barriers that may be preventing members from re-enrolling. As members respond via text, the automated program addresses the issues they identify, which provides a robust consumer experience and improves program outcomes. mPulse has deployed automated conversational programs to Medicaid populations across seven languages. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, mPulse’s digital outreach redetermination programs consistently delivered over 20 percentage point improvements in redetermination rates compared to traditional communication channels.
“With much of the last year spent in a holding pattern with each 90-day PHE renewal, we finally have a clear path through the end of the unwinding phase,” said Reva Sheehan, Senior Director of Customer Insights at mPulse Mobile. “However, that doesn’t mean it will be easy. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment for Medicaid MCOs. We encourage all impacted health plans to take advantage of CMS’ call for states and MCOs to work together, and the FCC’s clarification of prior express consent to text and call individuals to provide assistance through the entire recertification process. In addition to known challenges and barriers, many of these individuals have never been through a recertification process. The robust multi-channel communication approach that mPulse Mobile provides is the best way to keep at-risk members from slipping through the cracks.”
LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–mPulse Mobile, a leader in conversational AI and digital engagement solutions for the healthcare industry, announced the appointments of Jay Brookes to Chief Sales Officer and Brendan McClure to Chief Marketing Officer. The expansion of the company’s C-suite increases the healthcare technology expertise among the leadership team and strengthens its commitment to the mission of helping healthcare organizations improve outcomes with innovative technology.
“Healthcare organizations need innovative solutions to meet the needs of modern consumers and drive cost efficiencies,” stated Bob Farrell, CEO. “The combined skills and expertise that Jay and Brendan both bring to our company are invaluable assets for building awareness of mPulse’s unique capabilities that organizations and members are demanding today. I’m thrilled they will continue to lead our sales and marketing teams in strengthening our partnerships with leading healthcare organizations to build out impactful, enterprise-wide digital engagement programs.”
Recognized as an Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies in the U.S., mPulse Mobile’s customer-centric focus and commitment to disruptive, best-in-class technology have made it into a center of innovation excellence within the health engagement space. Its combined conversational AI and health streaming education content are proven to drive engagement and healthy actions among hard-to-reach member populations, including those facing significant social determinants of health (SDoH) barriers.
Several solution advances continue mPulse’s focus on integrating streaming content into digital health engagement strategies, creating an industry-leading combination of conversational AI that drives two-way SMS messaging campaigns and powerful health streaming content to engage, delight, and move consumers to adopt healthy behaviors. New capabilities include “Stories” Videos and Health Educational Courses.
“Stories” Video Format
mPulse launched the stories video format to deliver more impactful content experiences in consumer-focused outreach programs. The format adapts video “stories” commonly seen in social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels to deliver captivating content on important healthcare topics.
New Health Educational Courses
mPulse has also launched new streaming health courses that address key health issues and improve health literacy in a consumer-friendly digital format. Produced with proven learning techniques and behavioral science, these courses allow healthcare organizations to extend the digital experience from initial outreach to deep, relationship-building experiences.
2022 has been an exciting year for mPulse! From the acquisition of HealthCrowd in January to our return to an in-person Activate conference in September, we have had a lot to share with you over the last 12 months.
As we close out the year, we want to revisit some of our blog highlights from 2022. From health literacy to our People of mPulse series, here are the five most popular articles of the year!
1. mPulse Mobile Acquires HealthCrowd
We are coming together to drive our shared mission of improving health outcomes through market leading health engagement solutions. This is a very exciting day for both organizations as our teams combine to bring an unrivaled passion and deep expertise in delivering health engagement that unlocks enormous value for our healthcare customers…READ MORE
2. The State of Health Disengagement
How do we unlock digital to get more people enrolled, lower costs to serve, and improve health outcomes at scale? That question sums up a major challenge and business imperative to lift programs and people. To frame up that challenge, three key gaps must be considered for meaningful innovation…READ MORE
3. Celebrating Achievement in Health Equity and Technology Innovation at the Activate Awards
mPulse Mobile recently wrapped up its fifth annual Activate conference with the Activate Awards, which provided yet another celebration of healthcare leadership, innovative program design, and improved health outcomes amidst various health engagement challenges. The theme of Activate2022, The Power of Behavioral Science to Drive Health Action, was reflected throughout…READ MORE
4. Longest. Unwinding. Ever. The Continuous Wind Down of Continuous Enrollment
912 days sit between the beginning of the Public Health Emergency (PHE) and today, July 26, 2022. The PHE has been renewed 10 times, with the latest extension set to expire on October 13, 2022. There has been no shortage of speculation around the last two extensions, especially after the Biden-Harris administration committed to providing states with at least a 60 day notice prior to its plans to terminate or allow the PHE to end…READ MORE
5. Seven Ways to Use Streaming Content in Your Health Communication, Part 2
In part 1 of this blog series, we looked at the power of Fotonovelas, Interactive Content, and Animations to drive action in health consumers. All this content does the same thing: it goes beyond just telling a member or patient that taking an action is important. It teaches someone why it’s important and what can be gained or lost by action or inaction…READ MORE
Like what we have to say? Subscribe to our blog below today to stay up-to-date in 2023!
mPulse Mobile recently wrapped up its fifth annual Activate conference with the Activate Awards, which provided yet another celebration of healthcare leadership, innovative program design, and improved health outcomes amidst various health engagement challenges.
The theme of Activate2022, The Power of Behavioral Science to Drive Health Action, was reflected throughout the conference with captivating speaker sessions and expert panel discussions. Networking inspired exciting conversation around innovative technology, behavior change design, and consumer experience, and the Activate Awards surely brought those conversations full circle.
The awards help illuminate health plans, health systems, health service providers, PBMs and other types of healthcare organizations that utilized new strategies or unique tools to activate their consumer populations. The companies highlighted each year typically face barriers with engaging a certain population or driving specific health actions, so they search for innovative solutions to tackle those challenges.
For example, in 2019, CountyCare saw drastic rates of members losing Medicaid coverage, so the managed care organization (MCO) implemented automated text dialogues and saw their Redetermination rates improve by 3.3 percentage points in just one month, subsequently running away with the Most Improved Consumer Experience award. Last year, CareSource incorporated secure surveys, SMS, and streaming video to significantly impact their hard-to-reach members – they won 2021’s Best Use of Conversational A.I.
The same story is true for this year’s winners.
The remaining 3 award categories are Achieving Health Equity, Most Innovative Solution and Most Significant Outcome. Like the teamwork and critical thinking generated from breakout workshops and Q&A during the conference, the awards are a celebration of two companies that partnered together to overcome consumer barriers or gaps in care by building uniquely tailored engagement programs.
Here are the winners of the 2022 Activate Awards:
Achieving Health Equity
Program Goal
Increase Colorectal Cancer Screenings
AltaMed Health Services is one of the largest Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) in the United States and provides a range of health services to Latino, multi-ethnic and underserved communities in Southern California. After seeing a steep drop in colorectal cancer screenings during the COVID-19 pandemic, the health center sought a solution that could help patients overcome barriers like language and lack of awareness of services.
AltaMed partnered with mPulse to deliver multi-lingual, educational health content to patients using mobile fotonovelas tailored to both males and females who had not completed a screening. Patients received and digested vital communication about getting screened, where to find the nearest screening site, and more through culturally sensitive stories delivered in a familiar format.
A randomized control study found that 63% of patients who responded to the fotonovelas either liked or loved it, and 39% reported it positively impacted their willingness to act. By educating patients with curated content, AltaMed closed a key screening gap, lifted health literacy and perhaps most importantly – made significant progress toward health equity.
Notable Outcome
Patients that viewed the fotonovelas (19%) were more likely to submit a sample for cancer screening than patients in a control group (11%)
Best Use of Conversational A.I.
A Technology-Enabled Health Services Company
Program Goal
Promote smoking cessation among teen vapers
This leading health services organization employs over 210,000 employees globally and utilizes technology-enabled solutions to promote consumer wellness and population health.A major public health problem facing young adults, particularly teens, across the U.S. is the use of e-cigarettes, or vaping. Thecompany sought to promote smoking cessation among teen vapers, a cohort still widely understudied, by implementingintelligent conversational solutions and educational content.
They collaborated with mPulse to build a personalized SMS program, lasting 4-6 months, that leveraged Natural Language Understanding (NLU) to deliver automated, interactive text dialogues to a targeted teen population. Individuals were also provided custom-built streaming health videos that offered tips on quitting and even an option to connect with an SMS coach.
The use of NLU enabled the delivery of automated messaging based on text responses, which helped the organization direct each individual to the appropriate resource. The program yielded an 85% engagement rate, and ultimately 69% of participating teens completed the program. The key result, that 73% of teens in the program set a date to quit vaping, demonstrates the value in utilizing automated text conversations and on-demand content to promote smoking cessation in vulnerable teens.
CalOptima Health is a County Organized Health System that provides health insurance coverage for low-income children, adults, seniors and people with disabilities. As Orange County’s largest health plan, the organization includes a network of over 10,000 primary care doctors and servesover 900,000Medi-Cal beneficiaries.The health system looked to address a gapthey hadidentified withlow-income families enrolling inthe state’s food assistance program, CalFresh, federally known as SNAP.
CalOptima and mPulse partnered to launch a two-way texting campaign, which utilized interactive SMS powered by NLU and tailored to 7 different languages. The health plan addressed language barriers by delivering vital information about CalFresh’s food security benefits to underserved families and Medi-Cal members in their preferred language.
Through automated text workflows, members could respond in their native language with answers like: “I already have CalFresh” or “I want to apply.” The program has continued to expand, having delivered over 5 million messages in 2022 already. Communicating with members according to their preferences about important CalFresh benefits helped CalOptima both improve consumer experience and reduce food insecurity for an at-risk population.
Notable Outcome
Over 5 million messages delivered to members in 2022 about CalFresh benefits
Humanais one of the five largest health plans in the countryaccording to member enrollment and has been partnered with mPulse for over 10 years. With more than20 million members, includingover 5 million Medicare members, the planlooked to close a gap withtheir members scheduling the annual diabetic eye exam.
The plan worked with mPulse to launch an SMS texting campaign to increase awareness around the importance of the eye exam and to drive members to schedule an exam. The program featured A/B testing, in which one half of members was provided a 30-second streaming health video in the initial message while the other half received only text.
The educational video enabled a learning experience that was easily accessible and familiar, concluding with a URL for members to learn more about scheduling the eye exam. Humana saw a remarkable 270% increase in clicks to schedule an exam when outreach included the streaming video. The test demonstrates that using streaming health content alongside two-way conversational solutions can significantly help activate hard-to-reach members with diabetes.
Notable Outcome
270% increase in clicks to schedule a diabetic eye exam when outreach included 30-second streaming video
Most Significant Outcome (tie)
A Technology-Enabled Pharmacy Services Company
Program Goal
Improve member experience and pharmacy engagement
The leading PBM and pharmacy services company is nationally recognized and fills over 1 billion prescriptions annually for millions of healthcare consumers across the country.With a rapidly growing population, the healthcare leader sought a solution to improvepharmacy patient engagementby utilizing a new communication channel for its home delivery pharmacy and prior authorization programs.
The pharmacy leader partnered with mPulse to roll out more than 50 outbound-dialer Interactive Voice Response (IVR) campaigns. The IVR messages notified members about prior authorization approvals/denials, refill reminders, shipping details and doctor responses.
Ultimately, over 5.8 million IVR records were exchanged and the outbound dialer launched over 5.1 million total calls. By offering a new avenue for members to complete a healthy action like ordering medications, the pharmacy enterprise initiated meaningful conversations to help enhance member experience, improve self-service capabilities, and close pharmacy engagement gaps.
Notable Outcome
Reached over 2.2 million members with 55,000+ members giving SMS consent
Most Significant Outcome (tie)
Program Goal
Improve refill adherence for HIV patients
MetroPlus Health Plan is a subsidiary of NYC Health & Hospitals, the largest municipal health system in the country. The insurance organization serves a diverse group of over 600,000 New York residents across Medicaid Managed Care, Medicare, D-SNP, MLTC and more plan types. A big challenge for the plan was getting HIV patients to refill medications that are pivotal to managing their condition and avoiding complications.
MetroPlus partnered with mPulse to educate the vulnerable population through interactive text messaging about the importance of medication adherence and reducing their unmedicated days. Texts were delivered one week apart and provided members with vital resources like phone numbers of a pharmacy or a member of the HIV care team.
The plan measured results based on whether or not a patient completed a refill within 7 days of initial outreach. The program yielded a 69% improvement in medication refills when SMS text reminders were deployed, indicating that text nudges inspire self-efficacy and action within this vulnerable population. Through targeted, mobile intervention, MetroPlus helped positively impact medication adherence for over 1,000 patients living with HIV.
Notable Outcome
69% improvement in medication refills with mPulse text reminders
Health Challenges in 2023
The 6 winners of this year’s Activate Awards showed that even when a new barrier is identified with engaging a population, healthcare organizations must adapt to adhere to their consumers’ needs. Whether utilizing a new communication channel, adding streaming video or incorporating multiple languages, the awards demonstrate that providing healthcare consumers with tailored, learning experiences can significantly impact how they engage with a program.
As the needs and preferences of healthcare consumers continue to evolve, so too should the capabilities of the healthcare organizations that serve them. Next year’s awards ceremony will surely exhibit a new string of engagement challenges with complex populations and niche use cases – let’s see what type of healthcare innovation surfaces in 2023!
Meet Eden Brownell, mPulse Mobile’s Lead Behavioral Strategist and resident expert in behavioral science, user design, and public health! As a major contributor to the science behind the engagement programs crafted at mPulse, her efforts help healthcare organizations adjust their initiatives to meet the health needs, boost the confidence levels, and address cultural sensitivities in meaningful ways for their members- essentially reimagining health engagement for the modern age. Eden finds fascination in the intricacies of human behaviors and enjoys “geeking out” (as she loves to put it) on research projects that contribute to the design of our solutions.
“I Love Studying People”
Eden’s journey into this world of behavioral science and healthcare communications started at Saint Michael’s college where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Sociology/Anthropology. “I love studying people…at first thought I wanted to be a child therapist and work in more of a one-on-one setting,” Eden explained. “I did that for about a year and a half and realized I was too close…but I still wanted to work in healthcare and helping people.” That’s when she discovered public health and subsequently went on to get her master’s degree in Public Health focused in Community Health from Boston University.
And Eden is already making a stamp on the healthcare world. She has been awarded an Innovators of Healthcare award by UnitedHealthcare in recognition of her contributions towards a program incorporating social determinants of health data into clinician workflow processes to improve care management and enhance plan members’ health.
She is also a collaborator on a Boston Medical Health Equity Accelerator pilot program initiative that aims to improve communication with expectant mothers, uncover care barriers and improve health outcomes for both the mother and child in at-risk populations and underserved communities. The program focuses on supporting prenatal patients through their journeys through the provision of general pregnancy education, preeclampsia support, substance use reduction and cessation, housing instability and mental health management.
She has been bringing that expertise and experience to mPulse and our solutions as well over the last few years. As our resident behavioral science expert, Eden is a central figure in the creation of, and educating on the strategy behind our programs. Because she has a vast skill set in Content Design, Applied Behavioral Science, Human-Centered Design, Data Analysis, and Social Innovation, she’s an integral member of the team that crafts the outreach and messaging in all the solutions deployed by mPulse Mobile.
She also is an esteemed voice for us in the industry on education within the realm of behavioral science and engagement strategy. She, along with Greg Gould, her counterpart Engagement Strategist at mPulse, have been conducting a 5-part webinar series focusing on behavioral science in healthcare. Essentially, they are advocating for healthcare companies to take an outward look at how other industries and major corporations leverage behavioral science to motivate, inspire and drive action in their consumers, fuel behavior change. Then they teach these organizations how to take that and apply it to their own engagement efforts.
She was also recently featured on the popular HIT Like A Girl Podcast, A community committed to elevating Women in Healthcare & Health IT, to discuss her contributions to reimagining health engagement for the modern age.
Making a Difference through Science
In her tenure with mPulse, Eden has made significant contributions to mPulse’s Engagement Strategy team through the initiation of mProv Studio: a weekly, interactive design brainstorming studio that offers the team the opportunity to informally brainstorm ways to innovate solutions and make them exciting and engaging. The studio sessions offer the Engagement Strategy team the opportunity to learn more about behavioral science theories and behavior change principles, address integral aspects of the user experience and learning experience design. Additional collaborations are held to expound upon new content and product design ideas to support content development, streaming activities and the delivery of solutions tailored to the daily challenges within the healthcare industry.
Currently, Eden is knee-deep in diabetes research in support of the development of an mPulse Mobile training course in Comprehensive Diabetes Care that will utilize behavioral techniques to help diabetics to optimize their health. The 6-month Diabetes Management program consists of a series of interactive initiatives designed to aid member diabetic patients in: Learning to manage their condition; Examining their personal health beliefs; Increasing their self-efficacy; Setting personal goals and improving their day-to-day diabetes management habits. This is all wrapped up in a solution that includes SMS messaging and versatile multi-media learning experiences to utilize the best that each modality has to offer. This program will empower members to actively participate in their health betterment by learning and practicing the skills of active diabetes management.
Goats, Bulldogs, & Eden
Clearly Eden is incredibly busy as an ambassador, thought leader, and behavioral science expert for mPulse, but she still makes time for personal endeavors. She recently became a certified Yoga Instructor under the International Yoga Alliance and branched out into the exciting world of Goat Yoga! She is a dog-mom to Cooper & Magnolia, her two French Bulldogs, as well as being an avid thriller fiction reader and an aspiring Charcuterie Board designer. The views from her beautiful home office in Boston, Massachusetts are the envy of many members of the mPulse team who are all grateful for her valued contributions and enduring optimism.
It is no secret that COVID-19 has changed the way healthcare communication is delivered to consumers. The uncertain nature of the pandemic has forced healthcare organizations to incorporate digital strategies to continuously update their members on important COVID-19 information. Just this year, health plans have had to respond to the new mandate requiring reimbursements for at-home COVID-19 tests.
Gaps remain in other facets of COVID-19 communication, like driving behavior change to increase vaccinations. Across the country, states are seeing lower vaccination rates among Medicaid beneficiaries. In California, the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) released a January 2022 report indicating that 81% of the general population had received one dose of a COVID vaccine compared to only 54% of Medi-Cal (California’s Medicaid program) beneficiaries. Significant disparities in vaccination completion such has this have developed in states beyond California as well.
CareSource, an Ohio-based managed care plan offering insurance coverage to vulnerable populations across five states, recognized a similar disparity in their diverse member population and sought a solution. Traditional methods of engaging members had failed to produce desired results, creating an opportunity to incorporate a new approach in their outreach efforts. The plan partnered with us to implement conversational outreach and streaming health education into their COVID-19 vaccine program strategy.
Here’s some key takeaways from the program along with strategies that health plans can adopt to drive vaccine engagement.
Strategies That Personalize Outreach
Delivering vital information about vaccines becomes more difficult when using a one-size-fits-all approach to communicating with vulnerable members. A successful COVID-19 outreach program requires personalized interactions with members to inspire healthier actions. CareSource identified a need to activate hard-to-reach consumers and sought a tool to tailor engagement based of range of factors including health beliefs.
The plan leveraged our robust technology platform and Natural Language Understanding capabilities, which enabled tailored engagement through 25 SMS workflows, 1 Secure Survey, and 1 streaming video.
We helped deploy SMS surveys to assess individual vaccine readiness levels, and members were assigned one of three personas based on their responses: Ready, Unsure, and Nonbeliever. Developing personas enables plans to tailor messaging according to personalized interactions with members to inspire healthier actions each member’s preferences and self-reported barriers. Messaging must be intentional and sensitive to inspire paradigm shifts for unvaccinated members or members who have no plans to get vaccinated.
Behavior science informs every communication we send, and this program was no different. An effective behavioral science strategy in the CareSource program was giving members Social Proof, which comes from the Social Determination Theory and suggests that people are motivated by feelings of competence and relatedness. Through the texting channel, members were sent a streaming video, “My Why,” which highlights a diverse range of people explaining their personal reasons for getting vaccinated. Plans can inspire confidence and healthier actions just by making members feel as though they are not alone.
Another behavior science strategy employed in the program was Authority, which is using trusted health experts to improve education, drive health literacy and reduce barriers like misinformation. Using sources like the CDC can ease doubt and motivate members to reconsider personal health beliefs that may contribute to vaccine hesitancy.
CareSource provided zip code data, which we used to further tailor conversations based on socioeconomic factors. Providing members with personalized, familiar interactions gives the member a voice and drives self-efficacy.
By incorporating behavioral science and SDOH into their COVID-19 engagement strategy, CareSource was able to tailor conversations and streaming educational content at scale. Social determinants of health (SDOH) can play an integral role in tailoring messaging to each individual inspiring vaccine readiness.
Innovation That Drives Outcomes
We sent a total of 4 million SMS messages and delivered over 3 million automated dialogues to 664,000 members. The program yielded nearly a 15% engagement rate, an increase from traditional rates of 8-10%. Of the members who received a first dose, 81% reported they would follow through to get a second dose. By the end of the program, 57,000 of the 107,000 “Unsure” members moved into the “Ready” persona.
Each member response led to additional tailoring, with automated responses covering topics like variants, availability, cost, fear/anxiety, effectiveness, and side effects. Upon conducting 30-day and 90-day reviews of the program, common themes were uncovered within each member persona. Gathering insights from member interactions can help influence future vaccine engagement programs and ensure that each conversation is tailored to drive the best results.
As companies focus on highly tailored engagement, scalable intelligent capabilities are required. CareSource has demonstrated the potential for Conversational AI outreach and streaming health education to drive healthier actions and meaningful outcomes.
We are coming together to drive our shared mission of improving health outcomes through market leading health engagement solutions. This is a very exciting day for both organizations as our teams combine to bring an unrivaled passion and deep expertise in delivering health engagement that unlocks enormous value for our healthcare customers.
We are focused on reimagining health engagement, and HealthCrowd brings best-in-class health engagement expertise and leadership in the Medicaid market.
“HealthCrowd has proven they can deliver effective engagement solutions to hard-to-reach individuals and communities,” said Chris Nicholson, CEO of mPulse Mobile. “By coming together, we combine mPulse’s unique conversational AI and rich streaming heath education capabilities with HealthCrowd’s engagement solution expertise to build highly tailored programs that put the consumer at the forefront of their health experience.”
Unmatched Health Engagement Capabilities
As one combined company, we have unmatched health engagement capabilities which enable us to deliver market leading solutions. We combine the power of our conversational AI platform, streaming health education and extensive team of industry experts—technical talent, engagement strategists, government programs subject matter experts, behavioral scientists, plus many more—to deliver solutions that transform the way healthcare organizations improve outcomes and the consumer experience.
“Demand is surging from members seeking a tailored, consumer-first health experience,” said Neng Bing Doh, CEO of HealthCrowd. The combined strength will unlock enormous benefits for health plans, their members and the larger healthcare ecosystem. We’re thrilled to join the mPulse team and leverage our cultures and capabilities to work toward this shared mission.”
Scale and Agility
Together we partner with over 180 leading healthcare organizations and reach 100 million plan members and patients across the US. In 2022, we anticipate having more than 1 billion tailored meaningful touchpoints with consumers. We will continue to leverage HealthCrowd’s expertise across Government Programs, as together we now partner with plans that manage the lives of over 75% of Medicare Advantage enrollees and cover over 60% of beneficiaries in Medicaid HMO enrollment.
What isn’t changing? Our commitment to being an innovative, agile organization that partners exceptionally closely with our customers to unlock as much value as possible though our health engagement solutions. Our (now larger) team of world-class engineers and industry experts will be the key to staying on the cutting-edge and delivering on great health engagement. Our dedication to the best possible outcomes for our clients through innovative, market leading solutions will continue to be our mission.
There’s more…
Even though the partnering of two major players in the healthcare space is substantial news on its own, we are also excited to announce that we have received a growth investment from PSG, a leading growth equity firm partnering with middle-market software and technology-enabled services companies.
With this funding, we will have a greater ability to make significant moves in the market and invest back in our platform and team in ways that directly benefit our customers.
These two new updates are key strategies that empower us to reimagine health engagement and drive us in our mission to improve health outcomes through market leading health engagement solutions.
We recently hosted our annual conference, Activate2021, which featured a keynote address from Nick Webb, healthcare futurist and best-selling author, along with a number of exciting sessions, panel discussions, and of course–Activate2021 Awards!
The Activate Awards shine a light on healthcare organizations who are delivering excellence in health engagement to meet and exceed the needs of an evolving healthcare landscape. Never has this proven to be more fitting than in the past year when organizations have had to alter their consumer outreach strategies in response to Covid-19. With the disruption caused by the pandemic, it is now more important than ever to address gaps in communication and low utilization of services.
These companies demonstrated how innovative ways to activate their populations can improve access to healthcare and significantly enhance the consumer experience.
Winners were decided based on qualitative and quantitative results across five categories: Health Equity, Conversational AI, Innovation, Outcomes, and Consumer Experience. In case you missed it, we’ve recapped for you the ways these 6 different healthcare organizations are making a powerful impact on health engagement, health equity, and health outcomes.
CalOptima – Improving Health Equity
CalOptima is a large, county-based health system that offers health insurance for low-income residents of Orange County, California. The plan sought a solution to uncover barriers to getting the Covid-19 vaccine and to increase vaccinations of its diverse Medi-Cal population. CalOptima rolled out a Covid-19 vaccine engagement program across 6 languages that geo-targeted highly impacted groups and delivered over 1.4 million tailored messages to members. 389,648 members received vaccinations with health equity efforts among populations of color resulting in CalOptima’s Black Medi-Cal population reaching a 45% vaccination rate compared with only 40% of Black Medi-Cal members vaccinated statewide. Similarly, 56% of their Hispanic Medi-Cal members are vaccinated versus 54% of Hispanic Medi-Cal members statewide.
CareSource – Best Use of Conversational AI
CareSource is a health plan, headquartered in Ohio, dedicated to member-centric insurance coverage for its 2 million members. Looking to combat vaccine hesitancy, the plan implemented tailored SMS messaging, member surveys, and streaming health content to educate and uncover member barriers to getting the Covid-19 vaccine. The campaign delivered over 3 million automated tailored dialogues to 664,000 members, with members self-reporting as “Non-Believer,” “Unsure,” or “Ready.” By tailoring communication based on member preferences, CareSource was able to impact more than 650k members nationwide. At the end of the program, 57,000 out of 107,000 “Unsure” members moved into the “Ready” persona.
Magellan Rx Management – Most Innovative Program
Magellan Rx Management, part of Magellan Health, is a national pharmacy organization that serves complex populations. Magellan Rx engaged their specialty pharmacy members with two-way messaging and digital fotonovelas to address loneliness and anxiety experienced by their members during the pandemic. The use of fotonovelas was an innovative approach to deliver easily digestible and educational content in an engaging, story-based format that is relevant across diverse populations. After incorporating conversational dialogues and fotonovelas, the most impacted populations were younger members and members most impacted by social determinants of health. Overall, the program yielded over a 38% engagement rate to go along with a 90% member satisfaction score.
CountyCare Health Plan – Most Significant Outcome (tie)
CountyCare Health Plan is a large Medicaid managed care organization offering no-cost health insurance to eligible members in Cook County, Illinois. The plan wanted to uncover obstacles preventing members from getting vaccinated while increasing awareness and readiness. CountyCare launched a vaccine engagement program that targeted members significantly impacted by social determinants of health. The program utilized digital fotonovelas to address vaccine hesitancy and lift health literacy. After over 2.6 million tailored messages sent, 18% of members replied or clicked a link and 72% said they are more likely to get the vaccine.
Providence Health & Services – Most Significant Outcome (tie)
Providence Health & Services is a nonprofit health system, based in Washington, that operates in seven states and serves millions of individuals. The health system sought to increase sign-ups for their MyChart eCheck-in Program, which centralizes appointments, prescriptions, bills and other important patient resources all in one place. By partnering with mPulse and optimizing their patient engagement strategy, with the SMS solution, they grew patient activation rates from 9.9% in December 2020 to 27.4% by August 2021.
A leading Health Services provider – Most Improved Customer Experience
This organization is a nationally recognized leader in technology-enabled health services with over 100,000 employees worldwide. The company needed to transition a wellness coaching program from telephonic to a fully digital experience. A focus of the program included delivering a tailored, content experience that scales across populations. The health services company partnered with mPulse to build 11 custom content courses that drove 120k enrollments, and it yielded a 75% completion rate along with an average engagement rate of 51 minutes per enrollment. The organization used digital tools to deploy a robust program that kept their health consumers more engaged with their health content for a longer period and moved them into a space that allowed for more meaningful engagement in the future.
These 6 healthcare partners harnessed the value of innovative engagement solutions and streaming health education to positively impact their populations. The programs illustrate how rapidly health engagement is evolving to meet the needs of a shifting healthcare landscape and through adoption of new capabilities that create more meaningful touchpoints with members. For more information about the Activate Awards or any of the capabilities used in these programs please email us at info@mpulse.com.
About mPulse Mobile: mPulse Mobile is reimagining health engagement to inspire healthier lives and deeper relationships between healthcare organizations and their consumers. Healthcare’s leading Conversational AI platform combines with award-winning health education for the streaming age to deliver tailored educational health engagement that nurtures, educates, and activates healthcare consumers.
With more than a decade of experience, 125+ healthcare consumers and 500 million conversations annually, mPulse Mobile has the data, expertise and the solutions to drive healthy behavior change.
The acquisition combines mPulse’s proven ability to reach and engage vital member populations with The Big Know’s learning expertise and rich media health education experiences, enabling health innovators to deliver personalized conversational experiences in preferred member channels and streaming content formats. Click to read the full release.
Hear from mPulse CEO, Chris Nicholson, and The Big Know President, Allison Gage
The Big Know creates health education for the streaming age. Through video courses and podcasts taught by inspiring health experts, the company drives health literacy and member engagement through powerful learning technology. Launched in 2015, The Big Know is recognized as an industry-leading learning experience platform and health education provider.
Allison Gage, President, The Big Know
Looking Forward
As consumer expectations and preferences continue to change, healthcare organizations must adjust to meet their needs and maintain strong relationships with their consumers. Quality member and patient engagement is a vital and unavoidable part of the healthcare journey. The acquisition of The Big Know empowers mPulse to meet consumer expectations with streaming health content, including podcasts and video courses. Additionally, this acquisition increases our ability to create new content and engagement experiences as consumer and organization needs evolve. We aim to always be up to date with consumer interest and behavior so our customers can provide best-in-class experiences to their members and patients. We are now able to do that better than ever.
Full Release
mPulse Mobile Acquires The Big Know To Add Streaming Health Education Experience
Pivotal industry partnership reimagines health engagement and sets forth path to drive greater health outcomes
LOS ANGELES, January 19, 2021 – mPulse Mobile, the leader in conversational AI solutions for the healthcare industry, today announced its acquisition of The Big Know, a prominent digital learning company transforming how healthcare educates consumers. The partnership combines mPulse’s proven ability to reach and engage vital member populations with The Big Know’s learning expertise and rich media health education experiences, enabling health innovators to deliver personalized conversational experiences in preferred member channels and streaming content formats.
“One thing we’ve learned from years of healthcare engagement is the power of education in self-efficacy and ultimately health activation,” said Chris Nicholson, CEO and Co-Founder of mPulse Mobile. “Healthcare organizations need to provide meaningful and relevant education to their consumers in a way that is both familiar and impactful. We realize that streaming health education experiences are the best way to meet that need.”
mPulse Mobile solutions excel at reaching and engaging diverse member and patient populations on their healthcare journey, helping customers to measurably improve outcomes. They are actively engaging nearly 50 million Americans and are on a path to power over half a billion digital interactions in 2021, through a combination of engagement channels, behavioral science strategies, analytic insights, and industry expertise.
The Big Know adds a superior ability to captivate, educate and activate individuals through award-winning cinematic content that is proven to sustain deeper relationships. The company’s unique approach to personalization allows for delivery of content when and where members need it most and supports their learning journey.
Both companies combine to set a new standard for health engagement and experience. The result is a holistic approach to digital health engagement with integrated conversational AI and rich content streaming, a major development for the industry that helps address gaps in how healthcare organizations educate and activate their members.
“We have a mission to improve health equity and health outcomes for the populations that we serve. Building on a foundation of knowledge through demographically appropriate learning strategies will help our clients and us achieve these goals and reduce health disparities,” Nicholson continued. “Our combination with The Big Know is a perfect synergy. Our legacy of engaging with hard-to-reach patient populations combines with their dedication to health literacy and formative learning experiences to ensure more educational engagements and greater outcomes.”
A deeper entrenchment in the streaming age and shifting consumer expectations demand a shift in the healthcare industry’s approach to care delivery and experiences. Quality patient engagement must be acknowledged as a vital and unavoidable part of the healthcare journey. Through this acquisition, mPulse and The Big Know will not only address these emerging industry demands but will pave the way by reimagining what patient engagement and experience should accomplish.
“When we think about healthcare delivery, member and patient engagement must include education,” said Allison Gage, current President of The Big Know, and mPulse’s new Chief Engagement Officer. “We must help consumers better understand and learn the skills to activate their personal health journey and give them the confidence and motivation to seek the best possible care. Only then will they take the necessary action to be healthier and happier. Our collaboration with mPulse allows us to accomplish this and so much more, and our investors, such as LFE Capital are excited about this new direction for The Big Know. This is a most meaningful year in healthcare and a time for transformational health engagement.”
