Membership Jumps 50% to 18,000 Covered Lives
When providers and physicians are the owners of a health plan, the credibility battle has to be fought on two fronts - with consumers and physicians. For Des Moines-based SecureCare of Iowa, the first and only organized delivery system in the state, this battle has been fought for three years (since its inception) and can boast some impressive victories.
So far, the plan's growth shot up 50 percent from last year to more than 18,000 covered lives in Central Iowa; it has added 70 corporate clients in 1997 and claims a 98 percent renewal rate. Located in the backyard of the nation's leading insurers - Blue Cross & Blue Shield, The Principal and John Deere Healthcare - Secure Care is showing how employers and employees can benefit from a new kind of provider-based insurance coverage.
Relationship Marketing
When SecureCare became licensed by the state in the fall of 1994, it offered first-of-its kind healthcare coverage to employers and employees through a financial/managerial partnership between doctors and one of the area's top two hospitals, Mercy Hospital Medical Center-Des Moines. Operating independent of any insurance company, a team of nine physicians (seven from Mercy) and five hospital administrators comprise the board of directors.
Although SecureCare is expanding at an impressive rate (it recently added Iowa City earlier this year and will pick up two more markets in 1998) it continues to be haunted by credibility/stability concerns as a relatively new kid on the block and geographical limitations, according to Scott Harrison, SecureCare's president.
But a powerful arsenal of competitive pricing in addition to a consistent relationship marketing push is what will give this organized delivery system staying power, according to Cara Dohnalek, VP of account services at Relationship Marketing, Inc., SecureCare's marketing/communications agency (Des Moines).
"Initially, SecureCare was positioned as a low cost provider, which made people question the quality of care the plan could provide," said Dohnalek. Now the marketing plans focus on building relationships with SecureCare's core targets of employers groups (two or more employees), insurance brokers and physicians.
In line with the plan's steady growth, the marketing budgets have increased 60 percent from $150,000 in 1995 to $250,000 in 1997 and is relying on local radio, print and TV for its consumer campaign and one-one sales calls and direct mail for its corporate effort.
Marketing messages focus on the following quality care benefits:
- Doctors and patients have more control over the healthcare decision-making process;
- Plan members are treated as patients instead of insurance carriers (since the hospital and physicians are owners); and
- All premiums go toward enhancing healthcare services of the provider and physicians.
Selling Physicians on 'Shared Risk'
But for SecureCare's target of physicians the biggest marketing hurdle is getting this conservative target to buy into "sharing the health insurance risks" of owning a plan, according to Greg Hauser, SecureCare's director of marketing and sales. "We have to get [physicians] away from a fee-for-service attitude and sell them on the benefits of owning the risk of providing quality care at affordable prices."
This educational process is being addressed through a series of personal Q&A-focused physician visits and direct mail that emphasizes the physicians' decision-making role and the independence that can be attained through plan ownership.
Campaign Snapshot
As the only organized delivery system in the state, SecureCare of Iowa is creating a ripple in the insurance industry. As a relatively new kid on the block, the three-year-old health plan can boasts:
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This customized physician-marketing approach is catching on, according to Hauser, who pointed out that the plan's physician network has expanded 50 percent from its inception to 600 physicians. "Hospitals and physicians in other communities are seeing the success of SecureCare and are saying, 'I don't want to be held hostage [by traditional insurance carriers].'"
Current Challenges
Now that the plan has a three-year tenure, its stability and credibility are not as much of an issue as its geographic limitations (some corporate clients need a plan that can service their out-of-state locations) and its limited access to primary care physicians (potential members may not want to switch to SecureCare's primary care network).
But these marketing obstacles can only be overcome through time and network expansion, according to Hauser, who pointed out that in addition to SecureCare's statewide expansion efforts it will be making additional products available that include a Medicare supplement plan and an individual health insurance component. (Steve Chapkin, SecureCare, 515/244-1900)