Encourage digital adoption in 4 steps

Change can be difficult—especially when it comes to changing long-established workflows. Care managers are already hard at work reaching out to and engaging with their highest-risk members. Convincing them to get on board with a new digital tool and shift the way they work can be a challenge. So how can your health plan encourage digital adoption and staff buy-in? 

We compiled a list of 4 strategies our health plan customers are using to support staff adoption of new digital tools.

Managing staff expectations starts with informing them about new partnerships and the implementation process. Hosting introductory meetings can help your care teams feel more involved, and gives them the opportunity to ask questions and raise initial ideas or concerns. 

Your staff members may also have unique insights on where using digital tools would make the greatest impact on member reach and engagement. Care teams and clinicians have full schedules as it is—your plan can use these meetings to solicit feedback on where digital solutions could improve operational efficiency. The more information your leadership team has about staff workflows, the easier it will be to avoid barriers and reduce time to implementation.

As your digital strategy evolves and implementation progresses, it’s important to keep staff updated on successes, new applications, and best practices your team discovered along the way. Continual training sessions give health plan staff opportunities to get more comfortable with the digital tool and with any changes to their workflows. Your health plan can also educate care teams on the impact of digital tools on your member populations and your wider organization.

Using a digital engagement tool can make it easier for staff to reach out to and better understand health plan members. Staff can use digital tools to document member outreach attempts and take note of their preferred communication channels. Care teams can also see the impacts that digital engagement has on members over time. 

High-performing care managers can help determine which touchpoints and practices work best for different member populations. That way, when your health plan wants to make digital tools available to a wider member audience, you already have a performance baseline to guide new care team users.

Your digital strategy will evolve as your staff and members get more comfortable using your solution. The KPIs you start out with might evolve as you measure progress toward your engagement and clinical goals. To manage staff expectations, make it clear up front how the health plan will measure their performance and what the ideal outcomes are, then communicate any changes along the way.

Tracking metrics like these can help reduce utilization at the most expensive points of healthcare access. That includes unnecessary inpatient and ER visits.

Once you’ve implemented your digital engagement tool and onboarded members, you can focus on retention and building better relationships.