Pittsburgh-based health insurer Highmark Inc. is leveraging the connective power of text messaging to improve communication with clinicians and patients.
The consumer preference for text is high, making it a powerful tool for businesses. According to the mobile marketing company OpenMarket, 98% of text messages are read (and 90% are read within three minutes) compared to just 20% of emails.
But for a health care company like Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, the security risks associated with sending personal health care information over a traditional text service made the shift challenging. To solve the problem, Highmark worked with Radnor, Pennsylvania-based Relay Network to offer secure, two-way text messaging between patients and the organization’s health coaches.
The Relay system allows Highmark to check in with members more efficiently at key points in their health journey, such as when they are being discharged from the hospital. Clinicians can communicate back and forth with patients and link them to appropriate health resources.
Highmark’s Dr. Benjamin Edelshain, vice president of clinical engagement and digital innovation, and Lindsey Knight, director marketing strategy, CRM and member engagement, shared the story behind the new system in an episode of the Pittsburgh Technology Council’s TechVibe Radio podcast.
“What really gets me going are like-minded people, health care professionals, who want to lower the cost of care and make it more accessible in partnership with the insurance side of the business, as well as the hospital side of the business,” Edelshain said. “For us, that's Allegheny Health System and the appropriate use of technology to make that happen.”
Highmark launched the two-way messaging as a pilot program with 40 clinicians, including nurses, pharmacists, behavioral health specialists and wellness specialists. The pilot ended just as Covid-19 hit, giving the organization a powerful communication tool at a critical moment when people could not easily meet with their doctors in person.
The insurance provider used the technology to push out messages with current health guidelines and to schedule vaccines. Highmark was able to target high-risk members and help them connect with nurse coaches and other clinicians, improving patient outcomes while also saving more than $1 million.
It’s now being used by more than 300 clinicians within all lines of Highmark’s business and is available to all its members. The project earned Highmark a Brand Excellence Award for brand innovation from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association in April 2021.
"Very quickly, we learned we have to expand this," Knight said. “It’s definitely worth its weight in gold for the interactions we were seeing and how much it was allowing those clinicians to operate at the top of their license instead of just dialing a phone.”
Moving forward, Highmark hopes to expand the functionality to allow for three-way and four-way conversations that add an individual's primary care doctor and physician's assistant to the communication. This, Edelshain said, will continue to improve the experience for patients and clinicians alike.
“We want to continue to delight our customers in surprising ways, where health care has been slightly lagging,” he said. “I want to surpass banking. If you’re getting a better digital customer experience in banking versus health care, that's not good enough to me.”
For more information about Highmark and how technology is changing the way people receive health care, visit Highmark.com/employer.
One of America's leading health insurance organizations and an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Highmark Inc. (the Health Plan) and its affiliated health plans (collectively, the Health Plans) work to deliver high-quality, accessible, understandable, and affordable experiences, outcomes, and solutions to customers.
Lauren Lawley Head is a freelance writer for The Business Journals Content Studio.
