The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed by Congress and then signed into law by President Barack Obama in March 2010. Under the ACA, Americans—many of whom previously could not pay for health care—were given a chance to purchase affordable health-care coverage.
CareSource, a nonprofit, mission-based Medicaid Managed Care Health Plan, made a business decision to extend its mission and offer a private insurance product, Just4Me, on the Health Insurance Marketplace (the Marketplace).
CareSource understood that a successful education strategy was critical to the successful launch of Just4Me. CareSource University (CSU) was asked to develop a training plan to address the need for wide-reaching communication in support of the Just4Me launch. CSU developed a three-pronged approach to education, focusing on three crucial areas of success:
- Employee education
- Provider education
- Community education
Program Details
Key to the successful implementation of Just4Me is a strong employee base who can answer questions and be advocates for the Marketplace and Just4Me. The first training program focused on general awareness and Marketplace terminology. An e-learning course narrated by the VP of Enterprise Strategy was created and offered to all 1,944 employees. Additionally, more detailed product instructor-led training was delivered to 556 member-facing staff in three phases. This training focused on the features and benefits of the Just4Me product and included the use of self-study guides, job aids, and frequently asked questions documents.
The second phase focused on building strong relationships with medical providers so they also can answer consumer questions about the Marketplace. CSU created virtual instructor-led training for 119 provider-facing staff to assist with educating providers on the Marketplace and the Just4Me product.
Finally, to increase community awareness, CSU partnered with Marketing, Communications, and Community Education representatives to develop training content that focused on education and increased audience awareness by supporting CareSource Just4Me community education events. Hosted by Community Education representatives, these events included consistent messaging established through the creation of talking points and PowerPoint presentations. CSU also developed Facebook, Twitter, and blog posts that were shared daily and monthly.
Results
The focus on education using multiple delivery channels and engaging both internal and external audiences resulted in CareSource Just4Me being one of just six plans across the country that successfully enrolled a member on the first day—a noteworthy accomplishment that was mentioned nationally on the CBS Evening News. In addition, it was determined that Caresource not only had members on the first day, it had the first member in the entire country. Ultimately, CareSource staff had the education and tools they needed to meet the needs of their consumers and helped CareSource exceed its goal of 15,000 members by enrolling 29,800 members and capturing 26 percent of the Ohio market share.
