Customer experience

Many companies still operate in the dark while unknown numbers of customers are turned away by websites suffering slow or tedious processes.

While insurance products are inherently complex, interacting with insurance companies should not be.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has published a final rule, with a comment period, establishing health insurers' "medical loss ratios," including provisions to account for ICD-10 conversion costs.

Competition and customer expectations leave little room for error when it comes to website performance, and that pressure only increases with customers using mobile platforms.

Would customers react less negatively if their insurance company informed them about rate hikes personally over the phone versus a written letter? A new white paper by The Forum: Business Results Through People suggests that customers are less inclined to perceive a business negatively if price increases are communicated in-person, over the phone rather than through the mail.

Aetna, a diversified health care benefits company, launched enhancements to its international website in an effort to customize the user experience and provide mobile capabilities for people on the go.

CGI Federal Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of Canada-based CGI Group, announced that it has been awarded a $93.7 million contract by The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) to build the U.S. government’s federal health insurance exchange.

A survey of 120 U.S. P&C insurers finds them increasingly leveraging social media platforms for business purposes. Conducted by IVANS, an electronic communications services provider, the study notes that return on investment for social media initiatives can be difficult to measure and says that carriers must work with their distribution partners to ensure a cohesive strategy.

The economic crisis of the past few years has given P&C and life insurers new reasons to be competitive, and new reasons to be concerned. During this period, consumer spending on insurance dipped, while spending on personal technology reached an all-time high. In fact, experts say that we have entered an era that marks a turning point for consumer technology-for the first time, the combined shipment of smartphones and tablets is predicted to eclipse that of PCs, notes International Data Corp. (IDC), giving customers the power to access information and transact business at any time from any place. Just from 2010 to 2011, the number of mobile devices shipped is expected to increase from 305 million to 472 million, the company says.

Daily, there's news affecting health insurers. What's becoming clear is that transparency is a demand from consumers and regulators that health insurers are going to have to keep up with.