Concierge Style Employee Customer Service

Concierge customer service addresses a substantial challenge that exists for health consumers today—namely that the benefit and health care ecosystems are enormously complex and costly to understand and navigate. Current trends toward high deductible plan design only amplify the time and money required by you and your employees to make more intelligent decisions.

Proliferation of solutions that address one or two discrete consumer needs (e.g., scheduling, price transparency, or finding a provider) still leave the individual to synthesize information across disparate sources, often during a serious health crisis. Concierge service is the conductor that harmonizes much of this discord and fragmentation, providing one point of interaction and distilling complex information down to actionable guidance.

The concierge processes all the critical dimensions to be considered as the health consumer is contemplating or accessing care. As a result, the health consumer has one point of interaction rather than many and is delighted with an experience that absorbs complexity and distills information down to understandable, actionable guidance.

How Does It Work?

Concierge services are available as a subscription benefit for employees in value-based reimbursement contexts. They come in different forms. At one extreme, there are progressive concierge services driven entirely by algorithms that offer guidance based on machine learning. At the other extreme, there are more traditional, high-touch one-on-one concierge services. In the middle, there are hybrid models built on “human-driven” technology, offering a balance between live support and technology-driven solutions. Members can speak with live support or, if they prefer, navigate through an intuitive mobile or web interface.

Members can access a broad spectrum of support services in a single interaction or series of interactions. Specifically, the concierge can provide:

• Triage
• Explanations of appropriate and available care
• Selection of plan-approved locations
• Help scheduling care
• Cost estimates
• Advocacy for claims and billing questions

The key to an effective concierge experience is integration of information so employees have hassle-free access to simple and actionable guidance on any issue when they need it. To make this work, concierge services are ingesting more and more data to improve the value of their support, tapping into information about plan design, provider networks, real-time benefit consumption (e.g., deductible and out-of-pocket status), individual preferences, and care costs and quality data.

Why Should You Support It?

Concierge services integrate and coordinate a vast array of fragmented solutions into one location, enhancing engagement and optimizing benefit use to lower costs.

Employees who understand the implications of their consumption decisions are empowered to more intelligently navigate the care system. This means they can avoid unnecessary expense. As consumers use concierge services frequently and stretch their health care dollars further, risk bearing employers, insurers, and providers can accrue savings as well.

Many programs that employers have invested significant dollars in, like value-based primary care or the small number of proper workplace wellness programs, require years to deliver return on investment. Concierge services can deliver savings in year one by guiding your employees away from unnecessary, high-cost care.

Concierge support at “critical moments” builds lasting affinity among employees. Helping individuals understand their benefits and access the optimal care in a time of need capitalizes on powerful teachable moments to build awareness of how individuals can be smarter health care consumers on an everyday basis.

Finally, concierge services can be implemented off cycle and introduced successfully in advance of open enrollment as a benefit that can help employees select the best plan for their circumstance. Many times, employees are more comfortable selecting higher deductible plans when they know they will have concierge support as they navigate the care system.