Want to know what today’s customer experience looks like? Here are some examples. At this very moment, millions of Amazon customers know exactly when their order is scheduled for delivery, thousands are depositing their checks via their bank’s phone app, Doordash is a regular fixture on our weekly meal plan, and still others designed a custom-built shed, couch, or even a new vehicle with an online design application.

Digital technology has transformed the customer experience by enabling companies to provide unprecedented services and delivery as an extension of their brand. In fact, a survey of 2,000 companies found that two-thirds of CEOs have prepared to shift the company’s focus from traditional, offline strategies to more modern digital strategies to improve the customer experience.

But what about health services and Medicare? If a company can pinpoint a customer’s order status down to the minute, why can’t a health insurance company make it easier to apply for health insurance or check on a claim status? The technology is there, right? 

Salesforce Industries is an industry-specific, Salesforce-based solution designed to create a retail feel to the business of health insurance. With Salesforce as your platform, an updated CRM system can provide better process efficiency, customer-centric strategies, and game-changing productivity within your sales team. 

Let’s discuss three ways an automated payor-provider model improves the customer experience for health insurance companies, especially those that offer Medicare. 

 

Enjoy better process efficiency

The impact of the pandemic forced businesses to update their processes to connect with the needs of the customer. Faced with the pressures of evolving health regulations, robust competition, and marked growth in the health insurance market, health insurance companies need tools that help their team to be cohesive, efficient, and productive. 

The Salesforce Industries application equips your sales team with a comprehensive overview of the often complex guidelines and eligibility requirements for Medicare and other health insurance packages, so your team can ensure the information they provide customers is up-to-date. 

 

Focus on customer-centric services 

The business of health insurance isn’t immune to the need for a positive customer experience. When it comes to Medicare, let’s face it; the federal government isn’t particularly known for its simple processes, streamlined regulations, and stellar customer service. People want to use a system that makes sense, and they want to feel they can trust the advice they receive from their health insurance company as unique and custom-fit for them. 

And as flexibility in healthcare delivery transitions to telehealth services, digital remote testing, EMR patient data, self-service patient portals, and other forms of value-based care, health insurance companies need to be ready to accommodate these new types of patient care. 

Health insurance sales teams and brokers work with hundreds of health plan variants, particularly Medicare. An automated system, with pre-configured transactions, will simplify the selection process, so your sales team can assist customers with side by side plan comparisons that match their profile, needs, and eligibility. 

“At the same time, they want an ally they can trust to walk them through the complicated world of healthcare and ensure they are getting the most out of their plan and the right kind of treatment,” said Blake Morgan, a Forbes contributor. “Personalization is more than just saying a customer’s name three times during a call—it’s leveraging a wide variety of data to understand them individually and proactively meet their needs.”

 

Produce better productivity for your sales team

A meaningful customer experience needs quick, trustworthy results—not mountains of paperwork and long wait times for enrollment. Nevertheless, many health insurance companies try to compete by using a paper-based, manual process. 

According to a Center for American Progress report, health care payers and providers in the United States spend about $496 billion on billing and insurance-related (BIR) costs every year. 

Yet, many healthcare experts believe digital tools, such as EMR paired with a cloud-based CRM system like Salesforce Health Cloud, for instance, can help reduce administrative costs. 

“Many other administrative costs in health care are a result of the fact that information does not flow seamlessly among providers and between providers and payers,” explained David M. Cutler.  “If all information were easily transferrable and quality metrics were based on that accessible information, the burden of quality reporting would be significantly reduced.”

A digital transformation to a CRM system encourages personalized interactions with customers, creates an interconnected payer-provider model, streamlines quote preparation for customers, and builds trust at every stage of the health services process. So your team can focus on what matters most—the customer.