How digital tools help transform the way members access care
In today’s fast-paced digital world, many consumers expect seamless, intuitive experiences for health care that can keep up with the same level of ease as shopping online or ordering dinner from your phone.
Navigating health care should be simple and personalized — from finding the right provider to tracking health care approvals or even scheduling a ride to an appointment.
UnitedHealthcare offers a variety of tools that may help improve the digital experience via the portal and industry-leading UHC app — striving to make it easier for members to access the care they need, when they need it.
5 ways digital tools help enhance the member experience:
1. Searching for quality, more affordable care
Choosing the right provider for you and your family should be tailored to fit your needs. UnitedHealthcare’s provider search experience offers a retail-like interface with map views, provider ratings and personalized filters to help members find accessible, cost-effective care. For eligible members, Smart Choice can filter providers by distance from the member’s home, language spoken, gender preference, virtual care options and more. Members are then given a “Smart Choice Score” to help support them to the best option for them, based on their benefits and care history.
With features like “Members Like You,” cost estimates based on anonymous demographic information, like gender and age, help provide suggestions on the types of services a member might use on a certain care journey. While the resource doesn’t make clinical recommendations — that’s for physicians and care teams — it offers insight into care journeys for people with similar diagnoses, helping to provide clarity for a member to make health care decisions.
2. Timely updates on care decisions
When a health care issue pops up that needs prior authorization, you want to know what step in the process that decision is in, as soon as possible. UnitedHealthcare’s prior authorization tracker can help keep members informed with real-time push notifications from the moment a request is created to when a final decision is made. This can help to reduce uncertainty and help improve a member’s confidence in the care journey.
3. Understanding plan changes
When changes are made to your health care plan, it can be a lot to sift through. The Prepare for Next Year experience may help make that easier. Available via the website and the UHC app, this tool helps give those on a Medicare, Dual Special Needs plan (DSNP) or Individual and Family health plan (IFP), a personalized view of year-over-year plan changes which can help a member more easily navigate changes made to their health care plan. It also helps highlight new features and can highlight next steps a member can take to shop for a different plan, when needed. Generative AI even summarizes the Annual Notice of Change (ANOC), a multi-page document, into a simplified, member-friendly format.
4. Get answers to health care questions
“Ask AI” is a virtual assistant, powered by artificial intelligence, that is trained to help provide answers about a member’s health plan, benefits and more. Select members in commercial plans can ask questions in the UHC app to access health plan information, research their options and check on the status of a claim, all in one conversation. The virtual assistant tool can also help members ask questions about whether a doctor is in-network, provide contact information and ratings of that provider, where applicable, or get details on whether the member has reached their deductible.
5. Real-time transportation assistance tracking
For underserved populations, getting to and from appointments shouldn’t be a barrier to care. A recent study found 1 in 5 adults end up skipping medical care because they can’t get to their appointment.1 For eligible Dual Special Needs plan (DSNP) members with access to transportation services through their UnitedHealthcare plan, ride scheduling can be managed through the UHC app through a program called SafeRide.
This program allows members to view upcoming and past ride details or cancel an existing ride on the go. Real-time driver updates and optional text alerts help keep members informed every step of the way, which can help make transportation seamless and feel stress-free.
These types of digital tools are striving to transform the way members engage with their health care — helping to make it easier, faster and more personalized than ever before to help members get the most out of their health plan.
Share
