Although satisfaction with the Medicare Advantage plan is high, fewer members have actively managed health in the past year, which indicates a lack of participation and communication. According to a new report.
The report was released by consumer insight and consulting services company JD Power last week and included survey responses from 3,359 MA program members across the country. The survey was conducted from January to March.
The report shows that approximately 55% of MA plan members have actively managed their care in the past year. This is a decrease of 9 percentage points from 2019.
The two most common ways for plan members to actively manage their health are to check whether treatments or services are covered, and to ask their doctor or pharmacist about generic drugs instead of brand-name drugs.
The report ranks insurance companies based on the satisfaction of MA plan members, which is based on six factors: coverage and benefits; supplier selection; cost; customer service; information and communications; and billing and payment.
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan ranked highest in overall MA plan satisfaction, scoring 846 points on a 1,000-point scale. Highmark followed closely with 834 points, while Cigna HealthSpring and Humana ranked third with 822 points. The scores of these four insurance companies are much higher than the industry average of 806.
Information and communication are the lowest performance factors evaluated in the research, but it has an important impact on overall satisfaction. When members participated in a problem-raising or problem-solving plan, the satisfaction score increased by 54 compared to when they did not participate at all.
“The Medicare Advantage program has begun to position itself as a community health organization, and they realize that the key to better results is more active interaction with members to encourage preventive health and the wise use of provider resources,” Global Healthcare Intelligence Said James Beem, managing director. JD Power, in the press release. “However, despite the recognition of the importance of membership participation, many programs are struggling in terms of information and communication.”
According to the report, patient portals may be a way to increase member engagement and communication-and these portals are becoming more and more popular. Approximately 78% of the MA plan members registered on the payer’s membership portal, an increase of 4% compared to 2020.
In addition, two-thirds of the members have logged into their health plan portal.
The new report was released approximately two months after JD Power released the 2021 American Business Member Health Plan Study. This indicates Overall member satisfaction increased by 10 points year-on-year, higher than 6 points in 2020 and 1 point in 2019. The spike in satisfaction is mainly due to higher scores related to cost, information and communication, and website factors.
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