Silverlink’s Medicare communications solutions to help health plans tackle forthcoming changes in healthcare

Silverlink Communications® Inc., the leader in healthcare consumer communications, today announced solutions focused specifically on the Medicare market. These services help health plans more effectively communicate with beneficiaries, especially important in the 2010 plan year open enrollment season starting in October 2009. Anticipated benefits changes are likely to cause confusion with Medicare recipients creating an opportunity for health plans to take a leadership role with clear information and guidance to their Medicare members and potential enrollees.

“There’s a perfect storm brewing in Medicare right now,” says Donna Burtanger, Silverlink’s Senior Director of Medicare Solutions. “In October, we will have the confluence of three very powerful forces: the healthcare reform debate increasing emotion around the allocation of national healthcare resources; significant plan and rate changes for many of the 11 million people enrolled in Medicare Advantage due largely to the administration’s reduction in health plan payments; both converging on a population that is largely happy with their current health plan benefits and is not planning to shop around. Inevitably, this will cause misinformation, confusion, and churn as these Medicare recipients try to make decisions about their 2010 health benefit options. Health plans have a significant opportunity to prepare their beneficiaries for change, educate them on their options, and provide guidance if necessary.”

Silverlink’s Medicare communications solutions directly address the opportunity for health plans to proactively reach out and educate their member base, as well as ensure compliance with the CMS marketing guidelines during the 2010 Open Enrollment season. The solutions include Medicare Pre- and Post-ANOC (Annual Notification of Change) outreach and Enrollee Verification. The Pre-ANOC outreach serves as notification for the upcoming ANOC, providing beneficiaries information on what to look for, as well as guiding them on where to go for additional information. Following the ANOC, Post-ANOC outreach provides a way for beneficiaries to better understand their plan options and point them to resources, helping them to make more informed decisions.

Silverlink’s flexible communications technology provides the ability to dynamically interact with the individual, serving up and collecting information during the interaction. This allows health plans to proactively answer questions and resolve any concerns beneficiaries may have. This is a critical process to help retain members as they evaluate their health benefit options.

The Medicare Enrollee Verification service manages and ensures compliance with the new CMS requirements for outbound education and verification. Under these marketing guidelines, plans are required to make outbound verification calls to most new enrollees, with up to four documented attempts within 10 calendar days of receiving an application. Silverlink’s service includes outreach, reporting, and the ability to audit all communications attempts.

Additionally, Silverlink announced today that Donna Burtanger has joined the company as Senior Director, Medicare Solutions. Donna is one of the country’s foremost experts on Medicare, with previous positions at Ingenix Consulting and Gorman Health Group.