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Category: Text Messaging

Our Reaction to the Two New TCPA Rulings from the FCC

Posted on by mPulse Team

This past Thursday, June 25, 2020, was a busy day for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and their oversight on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA). 

That law, and the FCC rules enforcing it, create the primary regulatory structure that guides how automated outreach via phone and text to cell phones lawfully happens in the US. As a result, mPulse is always monitoring FCC rulings, federal court cases, and Congressional actions that relate to how our customers can ensure they are always compliant with the TCPA. So, when the Commission issued two binding Declaratory Rulings relating to the TCPA last week, we knew it was important to examine what was (and wasn’t) changing as a result. Here is our breakdown of the two new rulings. (Note: I’m not a lawyer and this should not be taken as legal advice.) 

P2P Alliance Petition 

What it is: The FCC ruled on a 2018 request from the Peer 2 Peer (P2P) Alliance asking for clarification on what constitutes an “auto-dialer” that calls or texts cell phones. This definition is key to determining if the TCPA applies to a technology platform.  

What happened: The Commission’s Consumer and Government Affairs Bureau (CGB) made two key rulings. First, they clarified that an auto-dialer must store or generate random or sequential phone numbers and call them without human intervention. They specifically clarified that a technology platform where a human had to manually enter each number prior to calling or texting would not be subject to the TCPA, no matter how fast they would be able to call or text. Second, the FCC reiterated a long-standing view that, even when using an auto-dialer subject to the TCPA, calls and texts made to cell phones with the consumer’s prior express consent are permitted. They also took a moment in the ruling to note, “The Commission has repeatedly made clear that ‘persons who knowingly release their telephone numbers’ for a particular purpose ‘have in effect given their invitation or permission to be called at the number which they have given’ for that purpose, absent instructions to the contrary.” They finished by saying that if P2P was an auto-dialer, but was only calling or texting consumers who had provided their cell phone numbers to the calling parties, those calls/texts would be permissible because they were made with prior express consent. 

What it means: Because of our scale and the crucial nature of the calls and texts (among other channels) our platform powers for our healthcare customers, mPulse has always operated under the assumption we fall under the TCPA, even as the definition of an auto-dialer has been debated in federal courts. So, our operations won’t change due to any update to that definition. The reiteration that providing a mobile phone number constitutes prior express consent, absent instructions to the contrary, is a good and clear reinforcement of the FCC’s view of how consumers can opt into non-marketing text and phone outreach.   

Text of ruling: https://www.fcc.gov/document/cgb-issues-declaratory-ruling-p2p-alliance-petition  

Anthem Petition 

 What is it: The CGB also ruled on a 2015 request from Anthem that was asking for an expansion of the exemptions for healthcare messaging under the TCPA. Specifically, Anthem asked for the FCC to rule that calls and texts from Anthem (and plans or providers in general) that concern healthcare should not need to have prior express consent as long as consumers have an easy opportunity to opt out. The existence of a prior established relationship between the plan and members is enough, in their argument, to start that outreach. Second, they asked that broader healthcare calls/texts should be exempt from the TCPA entirely because they are welcomed by consumers and represent urgent healthcare concerns. Specifically, Anthem listed calls/texts on subjects like preventive medicine outreach, case management, to “educate members about available services and benefits,” and the use and maintenance of benefits.   

What happened: The Commission declined to grant Anthem’s requests. They emphasized that consent must be obtained prior to starting outreach regardless of an existing relationship, but noted that healthcare callers should have little problem obtaining that consent. The FCC also disagreed with a few of the Anthem petition’s arguments for making a content-based exception to the TCPA for non-emergency healthcare calls and texts.  

What it means: The FCC’s ruling is positive in a number of ways. This was the first time that the FCC directly addressed calls and texts that health plans typically send their members. The FCC’s treatment of Anthem as a healthcare entity – consistent with their definition of a “healthcare provider” as a HIPAA-covered entity and/or their business associates as those terms are defined under HIPAA – helps health plans get clarity that the TCPA protections for healthcare calls and texts – which require prior express consent instead of the prior express written consent that general marketing calls require – apply to their health-related messaging as well as those from hospitals or doctors’ offices. Ultimately the FCC’s move to look at health plan calls and texts and determine that no change was needed gives us confidence in the compliance procedures we have helped our plan customers follow for over a decade.

Text of ruling: https://www.fcc.gov/document/cgb-issues-declaratory-ruling-and-order-anthem-inc

COVID-19 Member Engagement: Our Top 5 Best Practices

Posted on by Nora Cristobal

Health plans are confronting the COVID-19 outbreak on a wide range of fronts. Member engagement and outreach has become crucial as people want to hear accurate information and access helpful resources from the organizations that manage their care. The rapidly changing nature of the crisis and the massive amount of questions and concerns that members have about it makes this a uniquely difficult communication challenge. As a partner to some of the best and largest plans in the country, mPulse Mobile has been helping our clients face that challenge, sending over 10 million messages about COVID-19 to Americans in the first week after the WHO declared it a pandemic. Three weeks in that figure has grown to over 20 million. As plans and providers grapple with how best to keep members informed while maintaining focus on delivering care and support to the members who most need it, we identified 5 key best practices to help our clients navigate COVID-19 outreach:

Focus on Efficiency

Getting accurate and timely information to your population is a top priority. As the crisis progresses, it becomes difficult to focus on building and maintaining outreach efforts, and “build-your-own” vendor tools can take deceptively long to deploy. Now is not the time to task an IT team with implementing and managing self-service tools or develop content for new channels for the first time. Work with a healthcare-focused partner with existing and ready-to-launch content to help you keep your members aware of resources you have available (e.g. telehealth, mail-order pharmacy, etc) and updates to shelter-in-place and social distancing guidance.

To help organizations launch and optimize programs quickly and confidently, we developed our COVID-19 Strategic Communications toolkit, which has details on our ready-to-launch programs and essential platform capabilities. Click here to learn more.

…But also, Be Strategic

As Covid-19 continues to evolve, it’s critical to plan outreach strategically. The urgency of the situation makes it tempting to send mass communication through emails, mailing, or broadcast phone or text outreach whenever there is new information. We have seen organizations find the most success when they work with us to plan content, channel mix, frequency, readability, and language. You want to be a consistent, trusted, and an easily accessible resource for members – that means being careful to not over-message or use channels with limited reach and engagement, or use content that is not optimized for your audience or outreach method. Strategically thinking about the way you deliver those messages will not only drive critical resources to members efficiently, it will also build a stronger long-term line of communication as conditions shift.

Help Your Staff Through Automation

Call centers are heavily impacted during this time. We have heard from clients that members are calling into nurse lines and member services centers with COVID-19-related questions at an extremely high rate. Help throttle inbound calls by leveraging the automated outreach that gets general information and self-service resources into members’ hands before they call. Proactively sending members links to telehealth options, online resources, and symptom checkers, (the CDC has one if you don’t yet https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/testing.html) will help members with COVID-related questions without calling in for additional questions.

Be Ready for Members’ Responses

Because of its unmatched reach and read rates, using SMS is an obvious best practice in crisis situations. But the conversational nature of the text channel combined with the uncertainty and dynamism of this crisis means that you need to be prepared for members to reply back with questions or concerns. In the initial weeks of the pandemic, we have seen even 1-way text campaigns that do not solicit any response receiving high levels of replies from members. Generic autoresponders that ask members to call a number for help can cause member abrasion and more inbound calls at a time when you want to avoid them (see #3). At minimum, you should ensure that member responses to COVID-19 messaging receive relevant auto-responses.

mPulse has gone a step further and developed a Natural Language Understanding domain around COVID-19. This domain reads and automatically categorizes non-standard responses so that members get questions answered and concerns addressed. It dynamically updates as members reply to outreach, so programs will get better at understanding member replies over time.

Support your entire population

While broadcast messages out to your members are fast and easy, it’s crucial to ensure your strategy accounts for differences across your members to ensure ongoing outreach is relevant and effective going forward. Utilizing zip code segmentation allows for content to be tailored to members in specific areas, allowing for updates on specific facilities, services, or public health guidance. We have also seen plans using fotonovelas to reach multicultural segments of the population. They use comic-style graphics that help break down language barriers and can be utilized during COVID-19 to showcase best practices, resources, and updated information.

The COVID-19 crisis has placed tremendous pressure on the healthcare system, including how it communicates to the populations it cares for. With these practices, plans can get the right information out to the right people efficiently and effectively. For more help, email info@mpulse.com Review our COVID-19 Strategic Communications toolkit, where you can find details on multiple COVID-19 programs. Click here to access the toolkit.

Improving Patient Engagement in Pharmacy Operations Using Conversational AI

Posted on by Brendan McClure

Leading healthcare organizations from payers to IDNs, PBMs, specialty pharmacies, and hubs have recognized traditional programs for patient engagement are proving ineffective. Mail, telephonic and even app-based tools are not how the modern consumer prefers to communicate. Many consumers have experience engaging with ChatBots and Conversational Agents through automated conversations, and they are demonstrating a preference for this dialogue-based approach. Engaging with companies through messaging conversations is convenient, self-service tools delivered this way are more efficient and communications are tailored and relevant. A recent large cross-industry study found that 69% of consumers consider chatbots the preferred way to engage with businesses for quick answers to simple questions. The shift to conversational approaches for engaging consumers is also aligned to the widespread adoption of mobile phones. Mobile phone ownership is at 90% or above across all key population segments, including lower-income adults and seniors over the age 65.

What does this shift in how consumers prefer to engage mean for pharmacies?

The pharmacy industry is adapting to the rapid increase in specialty medications. These therapies have more complex dosing regimens, a higher potential for side-effects and require closer patient monitoring as a result. The generally higher costs of these medications also make demonstrating improved health outcomes and value critical. To ensure patients are successful, pharmacies must provide high-touch clinical support and they have large teams of support staff based in call centers to check-in, follow-up and assist with patients. But this becomes challenging when consumers are much more reluctant to answer telephone calls. Which is why conversational texting represents a huge opportunity for specialty pharmacies who want to maintain their high-touch approach, deliver it efficiently at scale, and leverage a consumer-preferred channel.

Leading pharmacy organizations have identified this opportunity and are leveraging conversational text messaging approaches to:

  • Improve chronic condition medication refill rates by 14PPs
  • Increase the number of touchpoints during therapy dosing period by over 3x
  • Reduce the average call wait time from 8 minutes to 90 seconds by diverting calls to the text channel

Click here to learn more about these outcomes and how Conversational AI programs improve patient outcomes in the pharmacy space.

Inland Empire Health Plan Receives The First Approval for Text Messaging Engagement for Medi-Cal Members: Our Top Takeaways

Posted on by mPulse Team

The entire team at mPulse Mobile was thrilled to learn that our long-time partner Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) was the first Medi-Cal Plan to receive approval to continue its text messaging program through the new process established by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS). This news means that IEHP will continue to engage their 1.2 million Medi-Cal members through text messaging, connecting them to their benefits and services and starting important conversations about their health. With the rest of the Medi-Cal plans and wider Medicaid community watching these new developments, I wanted to offer my key takeaways:

1. This news is a literal conversation starter: Medi-Cal members can connect with their plans about their health in a meaningful way

Healthcare can be complex and challenging for many people to navigate. People have unique challenges and needs, but all too often they get one-way, one-size-fits-all communication that isn’t tailored to them. A single mother with diabetes whose first language is Spanish will have needs for herself and her family that deserve and demand to be addressed differently than those of a 40-year-old man who faces housing and food insecurity and prefers to text in English.

This is why DHCS’s approval is so important: it empowers plans to engage these members at scale through conversations. Texting is inherently conversational. Unlike do-not-reply emails, postcards, prerecorded phone calls, apps, and web portals that healthcare consumers routinely ignore, text messaging is how they keep in touch with friends and have conversations with family using plain language (and sometimes emojis). It’s their natural preference.

When plans reach out to a member in a tailored way that takes into account their individual needs, preferences, and challenges, it creates an opportunity to both accomplish vital goals like closing care gaps and improving access to care and awareness of services while transforming the member’s relationship with the plan.

95% of Medi-Cal eligible adults own cell phones and use them to text. We have seen repeatedly in our work with Medicaid plans across the country how eager members are to engage in a dialogue with plans via text. They want to do things like learn where to get care, understand their benefits, or get help choosing a doctor. They want to know what kinds of help is out there for managing a chronic condition or where they can pick up a new prescription. The moves from DHCS empower those conversations to happen more often and in the channel that members prefer.

2. Meeting members where they are: Medi-Cal Plans now have a tremendous opportunity to activate their hard-to-reach membersThe desire for meaningful dialogue in healthcare runs two ways: just as consumers need personal and relevant information, plans must promote awareness of key benefits and services, close gaps in care, and promote healthy behaviors in their populations. This can be an especially tough challenge in Medicaid where health literacy and self-efficacy can vary widely, members are more likely to change addresses and they face deeper impacts from social determinants. This range of factors leaves Medicaid populations often regarded as the most difficult to engage in healthcare.

The unmatched adoption of text messaging is a great starting point to reach traditionally hard-to-engage members. When plans tailor their outreach to account for an individual’s specific socio-economic, cultural, psychographic, and health situation, they can bridge gaps between each member and plan resources in a scalable way. That’s how we see plans orchestrating automated text engagement over 40 different health and services topics to large, diverse Medicaid populations – by treating them as individuals and embracing the opportunity to treat each text conversation with them as a unique chance to promote healthy behavior change. And they see great results in driving those changes beyond what had previously been possible through one-way traditional outreach methods.

By lighting a clear path to compliant and interactive text programs, DHCS enabled plans to meet members where they are and deliver on the promise of a more meaningful and personal engagement approach.

3. California’s new text program approval process should be a model for plans in other states

The new program approval process was created by DHCS after consulting with Medi-Cal plans to ensure that text message programs meet the state’s requirements around privacy, cost control, and legal compliance while promoting a positive member experience. mPulse closely collaborated with IEHP to ensure DHCS had accurate and complete information on opt-in approaches, data security, key use cases, and message content and frequency best practices. We were very encouraged to see that the resulting process and approval form allows plans to maximize both the impact and reach of text programs while ensuring that rigorous compliance standards are being met. I hope to see other states take a similar approach to welcoming impactful and compliant text messaging for Medicaid through a similarly clear and thorough process.

4. IEHP and other Medi-Cal Plans can continue to lead the way in innovative engagement that drives real health outcomes

Our home state of California is so often thought of as a model of innovation. When it comes to Medicaid engagement, this news demonstrates why we have that reputation. We are so proud of the success we have had over the years with IEHP in finding new ways to create meaningful touchpoints with Medi-Cal members. IEHP’s solution with mPulse connects members to important services and benefits, improves access to care, and gathers important insights by empowering members to have convenient and relevant conversations with their plan. In continuing our work together, we anticipate driving even better outcomes and valuable member experiences than those recorded in our early case study.

Our shared excitement to improve and extend the important work we do together is evident, and I am looking forward to seeing how our partnership will continue to find opportunities to deliver a better experience and health outcomes for IEHP’s members. Further, we are working closely with our other Medi-Cal Plan partners and new customers that are exploring text messaging for the first time or looking to improve 1-way programs to design engaging and fully-compliant programs to gain approval from DHCS in the near future.

———–

mPulse Mobile supports Medicaid plans in California and over a dozen states engage and activate over 10 million members to drive healthy behavior change. To start a conversation about how we can help with the DHCS approval process, or to learn more about our solutions, please contact us.

Chris Nicholson is the co-founder and CEO of mPulse Mobile.

mPulse Mobile Offers Support at No Charge to Healthcare Providers and Patients during Hurricanes Harvey and Irma

Posted on by mPulse Team

Hurricane Harvey has left over one million people displaced. Meanwhile, Hurricane Irma is moving through the Caribbean heading for Florida. In many cases, patients at hospitals and clinics in affected areas near Houston have been relocated to facilities further away from the flooding. Irma’s course has Florida bracing for these same challenges.

When natural disasters like these occur, consumers with healthcare needs and appointments are often left in the dark about cancellations, rescheduling or the ability to move their appointment to another location due to the chaos caused by the hurricane. For those already receiving care, it can be challenging for families and caretakers to track down to what facility their loved ones have been moved.

The health and wellness of people affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma will be disrupted for months to come. mPulse Mobile is uniquely positioned to help reduce the impact of this disruption by helping healthcare organizations communicate with their consumers regardless of where their consumers currently are. To help keep the people in the hurricane-impacted areas connected with the care and information they need, mPulse would like to help however we can.

Mayo Clinic Jacksonville utilized mPulse to keep patients notified about their appointments and Clinic closures during Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and are currently using mPulse in preparation for Hurricane Irma. Programs like these help inform patients quickly and effectively, all while reducing thousands of incoming calls. Given the impact to so many patients, we are offering this support for no charge to hospitals and health systems for Hurricane Harvey and Irma related impacts.

Examples of messages that patients find so helpful during weather incidents, include:

Notifying normal business hours 
We continue to monitor Hurricane Irma and are open during business hours. Call the Patient Info Hotline @ 555-123-4444 for updates.

Notifying closure 
Due to hurricane conditions, the clinic will be closed (insert date) for appointments. We will contact you to reschedule. Emergency services remain open. Please be safe during this time. Patient Info Hotline 555-123-4444.

Notifying reopening
We will have normal business operating hours starting (insert date).

Please complete this form if you would like to speak with mPulse Mobile about assisting your organization during these challenging times.

mHealth Watch Blog Series Week 4: Improving Portal Adoption

Posted on by mPulse Team

In this week’s installment of mHealthWatch’s new blog series, we’re tackling the challenge of improving portal adoption.

Improving Portal Adoption Possible with mPulse Mobile Solution

Although 87 percent of patients now want electronic access to their health records, according to athenahealth’s research highlighted recently by Healthcare Information, the portal adoption rate in the U.S. is just 29%. As a result, it behooves Integrated Delivery Networks (IDNs) to seek new and effective ways to improve their portal adoption rates and increase their return on investments in procurement of engaged patients.

For this particular case study , we’re setting our sights on the experience of a large, multi-state IDN which invested significant resources into boosting portal adoption. This effort in question provided the foundation for a case study presented in mPulse Mobile’s new Outcomes Report.

Execs at the IDN featured in the report knew that patients who registered for the portal were 2.6 times more likely to remain loyal patients of the organization. But how to reach the ‘unengaged’ patient segment — people who had not responded to previous outreach attempts — was the question.

That’s when the company reached out to mPulse Mobile to leverage its text channel to drive portal sign-ups among the not yet engaged patient population. The target audience was a cohort of 55,746 patients who had not previously registered for the portal.

After the IDN partnered with mPulse Mobile to reach these patients in a new and more cost effective way, 18 percent of the target audience registered on the portal.

The key was sending a text message to all mobile phone numbers, along with a unique link to register to the portal. This was the best possible solution, since — of the target patients — 51,632 (93 percent) had a mobile phone on record, while only 16,229 (29 percent) had email addresses on record.

Next Monday, in our final installment of mHealthWatch’s latest blog series, we’ll take a look at the critically important issue of Patient Compliance.

mHealth Watch Blog Series Week 3: Mobile Appointment Reminders

Posted on by mPulse Team

This week, in the continuation of our new blog series, we’re taking a closer look at the impact of mobile appointment reminders.

No-Show Woes Reduced by mPulse Mobile Appointment Reminders

According to mPulse Mobile’s new Outcomes Report, even well run clinics, with all the technology now available, experience a 12 percent average daily no-show rate.

Determined to make a dent in that disturbing statistic, a world-class Integrated Delivery Network (IDN) approached the matter proactively and with an eye toward technology. The IDN had been delivering appointment reminders via automated telephone calls, but it was neither the most consumer-friendly nor most effective solution.

In an effort to reduce no-shows, the IDN contacted mPulse Mobile, whose expertise aligns with the shifting trend towards text as the consumer preferred channel of communication. Per the findings of a 2016 survey by Sequence, when it comes to communications with healthcare providers, text messages are now preferred over phone calls by a majority of patients.

What mPulse Mobile proposed was its Appointment Reminder solution which delivers personalized, interactive, and automated message workflows for appointment reminders, no-show follow-ups, and satisfaction surveys. Targeted were all patients with scheduled appointments who had provided their mobile numbers at registration (which represented more than 30,000 appointments per month).

The mPulse Mobile Appointment Reminder solution offered patients the option of initiating a rescheduling workflow by replying ‘RS’ to a reminder message. No-shows triggered automated messages to patients and initiated a rescheduling workflow.

Introduction of this text reminder program drastically reduced no-show woes. The no-show rate was cut by 16 percent, generating a positive ROI. Additionally, 2.5 percent of patients used the ‘RS’ reschedule functionality 1 to 3 days before their appointments. This reschedule functionality improved overall slot fills.

Patients were extremely happy with the solution. Not only was the patient satisfaction rate for the program pegged at 97 percent, the program opt-out rate was a mere 2 percent.

mHealth Watch Blog Series Week 2: Clients and Care Plans

Posted on by mPulse Team

This week, in the continuation of mHealth Watch’s blog series  they explore what happens to patients after diagnosis and instructions are provided by doctors and healthcare professionals. Sadly, 50 percent of patients do not adhere to the care plans recommended by their physicians.

Clients and Care Plans: mPulse Mobile Solution Boosts Rx Refill Rates

Consider the case of a large Integrated Delivery Network (IDN), which was concerned about the low medication refill rates among its Medicare patients with chronic conditions. According to mPulse Mobile’s Outcomes Report, call center outreach to this population only achieved an 8 percent refill rate – and the costs were high. Email and paper reminders did not drive any increases in refill rates.

Soon the IDN firm’s Pharmacy Operations Director engaged mPulse Mobile, a company that provides mobile engagement solutions for healthcare, to help devise a better solution to increase the refill rates and reduce the workload demands on the pharmacy call center staff.

A solution was designed to target Medicare patients with diabetes, hypertension, and/or high cholesterol who were partially or completely non-adherent with their medications (based on data about incomplete Rx Refills). Then came implementation of mPulse Mobile’s Rx Refill solution for Care Management.

“The solution delivered an interactive text workflow that notified patients that one or more refills were overdue,” explained an mPulse care management expert. “Patients were then able to complete the refill directly through an interactive text workflow.”

Interestingly, a ‘phone scrub’ determined that a high proportion of devices were feature phones (not smart phones), so the workflow was adjusted to require only simple numeric (1,2,3) patient responses. The solution incorporated a proprietary self-identification functionality to maintain identity-related security.

The results?

While the prior telephone outreach was operationally expensive and spurred a low 8 percent refill rate, the text-driven refill rate was 17.6 percent, with 27 percent of targeted patients engaging in the workflow.

It’s instructive that while younger Medicare beneficiaries were more likely to engage in the program than the rest of the population, the mPulse program proved effective across all age groups. Text communication decreased the back-office processing time for each prescription, helping staffers to double their capacity. Opt out rates from the program? A mere 1.6 percent.

The text-based Rx Refill Solution is one way mPulse Mobile helps healthcare organizations improve care plan adherence for patients with chronic conditions. mPulse Mobile also provides condition specific solutions that improve outcomes and are aligned to quality targets. Diabetes is an area of significant focus, with tailored mobile messaging improving adherence for HbA1c testing, LDL-C screening and retinal eye exams. Completion rates for these check-ups all form part of Diabetes Care HEDIS scores. Learn more about our mobile engagement solutions at mpulsemobile.com/solutions

Next Monday, mHealthWatch will present the third blog in this series.

mHealthWatch Publishes Blog Series Highlighting mPulse Mobile’s Patient Engagement Outcomes Report

Posted on by mPulse Team

mPulse Mobile recently released a Patient Engagement Outcomes Report that walks through five innovative mPulse Mobile client programs, including execution details and outcomes. mHealthWatch is publishing a new blog series based on the findings of this report over the next five weeks. We will share each post on the mPulse Mobile blog with additional detail and analysis from our team. First up is a case study showcasing the power of a mobile solution to outperform online ads and mail.

mPulse ‘Patient Access’ Mobile Solution Outperforms Online Ads, Mail

It’s a sad fact of the current state of healthcare that more than 50 percent of individuals with ‘moderate mental illness’ do not receive treatment. Correspondingly, a major dilemma has been how to reach and engage healthcare consumers. But that could soon change, thanks to programs like the one designed by mPulse Mobile. As an illustrative case study, for example, a recent success story points the way to better results.

A behavioral health therapy provider, contracted to provide services to Medicaid beneficiaries with anxiety and depression, needed to increase awareness and enrollment to its service. The company tried online advertising and mail outreach, but it was costly and minimally effective.

The provider then reached out to mPulse Mobile to deliver a more effective and efficient mobile engagement strategy to increase enrollees into the therapy program. The target audience involved custom segments within a wider population of 400,000 Medicaid beneficiaries.

The company implemented mPulse Mobile’s Patient Access solution to efficiently reach and engage large segments of the population in a short period.

“Initially, clinical and demographic datasets were used to assess and segment the 400,000-member population,” according mPulse Mobile’s Outcomes Report. “Next, messaging workflows were implemented with segment-specific language and tone. Individuals had to reply in order to get details of the program and receive a text that contained an embedded link to the therapy site.”

Best of all, the link was trackable to allow insights into the source of site traffic.

What happened? Immediately following the initial text outreach, there was a large spike in web traffic to the therapy site compared to the baseline level driven by online advertising and mailers. Almost immediately, the text channel accounted for 66 percent of weekly therapy sign-ups compared to 11 percent from online advertising and 10 percent from mailed flyers. Opt-out rates from the program were low at 5 percent.

In addition to the clear success of the text channel at increasing awareness and utilization of health services, this use case demonstrated the text channel is much more precision-based than other outreach methods. Organizations can be more strategic about how they conduct their outreach. 95% of messages are read within 3 minutes of being received and response rates frequently reach >30%. This means organizations can launch a targeted campaign to specific patient segments and within hours have powerful metrics to access the impact of the outreach.

Next Monday, mHealthWatch  will present the second blog in this series: the findings of a case study focused on Rx refill rates.

Thomas Pham from Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) Shares his Insights on Engaging a Growing and Hard-to-Reach Medicaid Population

Posted on by mPulse Team

At the recent Health 2.0 conference in Santa Clara, CA, mPulse Mobile and our customer, Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP), were invited to speak on a panel sponsored by the California HealthCare Foundation titled “Medicaid as a market: Bringing innovative solutions to the safety net. It was a standing-room-only session. Thomas was nice enough to share the insights he presented through a guest blog. Thank you Thomas!

As IEHP’s Sr. Director of Marketing and Product Management, I am always thinking of how we can better serve our growing and diverse customer base. With the ACA, our population has nearly doubled in the past three to four years. That has led to a significant demographic change. Our population is now 50% adults and 50% children. We also experienced an increase in our male and young adult population. With this growth and demographic shift, I recognized that our communication strategy and messages needed to change.

We were looking for an innovative solution that would help us target the right information to each consumer demographic in real time. To achieve this goal, we issued a RFP seeking a vendor with ability to support us as we develop and define our new communications strategy. We looked at many vendors and chose mPulse Mobile to provide us with a comprehensive text message solution. We were among the first Medicaid plans to use text messaging as a way to engage our members, so choosing a company that has the experience and expertise to partner with was important to us.

To start, we collected all the member phone numbers in our database. mPulse analyzed them and found that 70% of the numbers provided were, in fact, cell phone numbers. That meant we could reach 70% of our population with text messages.

We sent a welcome message to these members, introducing our text message program. Less than 2% opted out, so we knew there was clear interest in text messaging as a communication channel for our members.

mPulse introduced the concept of “crawl-walk-run” for our engagement strategy. It made sense that we would need to crawl first with this new digital engagement approach, as well as get our members used to the program. My team also needed to get comfortable with the platform and how to engage our members via text. As we experienced low opt-out rate and high engagement rates from our members, we were ready for the next phase: walk.

In the walk phase, we started bi-directional communication. We asked questions like: How would you rate your health? Would you like to participate in a health challenge? This strategy allowed us to listen to our members and provide them with helpful information that activated them based on their personal health needs.

Next, we will begin our run phase in 2017. In this phase, we want to focus on gaps in care. We also look forward to deepening our tailored, contextually-relevant engagement with our members via text. The more knowledgeable and connected they feel, the more activated they become about their health. As individuals become more activated, we see the impact across the population as a whole.

Overall, our partnership with mPulse Mobile to deliver a highly-effective mobile engagement solution has improved member knowledge and use of our services, leading to better health outcomes. We are excited to continue this innovative approach to member engagement.