Health plan disenrollment rates are hovering as high as 40% in states like New York and California (hotbeds of HMO competition) making retention marketing a top priority. More and more health plans are putting some teeth into their wellness/preventive healthcare programs to bolster retention and promote healthy living.
Linking with fitness organizations and product manufacturers may seem like an easier-said-than-done effort, but as market pressure from employers continues to mount for lowering health claims and encouraging healthier lifestyles (reducing sick days), more avenues are opening up to make these cooperative agreements happen.
Rewarding Healthy Lifestyles
Taking its cue from the airline industry's frequent flier programs, Esprit Communications, based in Corona del Mar, Calif., is launching a "Rewards for Life" retention marketing program that targets health plans, and eventually hospitals. (The agency is already in negotiations with a few national health plans but wouldn't disclose who.) The fitness-oriented program uses an innovative point system to reward health plan members for leading healthy lifestyles that involve a broad range of health and fitness products and services like therapeutic massages, sports watches and exercise bikes.
"The health plan relationship is inherently negative," says Sandy Sasser, Esprit's VP "The contact that members have with the health plan usually involves confusion over benefits, physician problems and being denied coverage."
The Rewards for Life program is a database marketing tool Esprit is using to capture key consumer data for its clients and establish long-term relationships with health plan members. Through the program, health plans can identify the fitness activities plan members are most attracted to and rewards incentives that will be most compelling.
Its case study, Vytra Healthcare of Long Island, N.Y., launched a version of Rewards for Life under the brand name "Constellation Club" in January 1997 on a shoestring budget (significantly under $1 million).
The program - in conjunction with other customer initiatives - helped the health plan reduce its disenrollment by almost 2 percent, a projected savings of $3.7 million, according to John Kaegi, Vytra's senior VP of marketing.
Vytra's 120,000 members earn "stars" for healthy activities like smoking cessation, immunizations, mammograms, joining sports leagues and attending disease management wellness seminars.
Members and their families can earn up to 1,000 stars for participation in healthy activities. The stars can be redeemed for a host of prizes like therapeutic massages, exercise bikes, treadmills and discount health club memberships.
"The Constellation Club enhances the quality of life on Long Island," says Lorraine Botti, Vytra's relationship marketing manager, highlighting the collaborative partnerships the health plan has negotiated with local sports retailers, spas, fitness clubs and ski resorts.
Corporate Fitness Plans
The trend of health plan affiliations with fitness organizations is still experimental, according to Dave Pickering, who heads up the International Fitness Club Network (IFCN), a Warwick, R.I.-based organization representing 4,000 health clubs nationwide and offers corporate network discounts to employers.
The East Coast, particularly the Northeast, is leading the trend in offering fitness programs to its members, namely because of the aggressive HMO competitive landscape there, according to Pickering. IFCN currently has about 20 healthcare clients including Aetna/U.S. Healthcare and Blue Cross and Blue Shield (New England).
The benefits of health plan fitness programs aren't only in attracting and retaining healthy members but having a leg up on the competition in winning over employers, says Pickering. (Esprit Communications, Sandy Sasser, 714/721-2121; Vytra Healthcare, Lorraine Botti, 516/577-5243; IFCN, Dave Pickering, 401/739-3861)
Affordable Fitness
The cost of getting fitness programs off the ground are reasonable at $1 or less per employee, according to the The International Fitness Club Network (IFCN) headed up by Dave Pickering. IFCN develops fitness packages for companies that include:
- the lowest membership rates at participating health clubs;
- trial memberships that allow people to sample different clubs to self-help health promotion programs; and
- and access to discounts on a variety of home fitness equipment like NordicTrack, Life Fitness and the Step Company.
Source: IFCN