New Index Ranks Health Insurers Based on Consumer Engagement

EveryMove Inc. has launched the EveryMove 100 Health Insurance Index, a ranking of the top 100 health insurance companies in the United States based on how they engage and empower consumers to manage their own health. The need for comparative information about health insurance companies is greater than ever, the company said, as the implementation of the Affordable Care Act is expected to cause an influx of consumers to the federal and state health insurance exchanges.

“We’re about to witness a tectonic shift in the health insurance industry,” noted EveryMove’s CEO Russell Benaroya. “Millions of consumers will soon be buying health insurance – either directly or through exchanges – for the first time. In a competitive market, they’re going to expect health insurers to differentiate themselves on more than just price and government-mandated minimum features. They’re going to want the same level of brand engagement and customer-focused service that they get from companies they do business with in other areas of their lives. Consumers deserve that information before they incur such a large out-of-pocket expense.”

The EveryMove 100 index includes regional and national plans and ranks them based on more than 50 metrics, the company said, to create an aggregate score indicating how well they meet consumer needs for accessibility, motivation, community activism and overall satisfaction. The metrics include whether they offer mobile websites and apps, the self-service options they offer, social media activity, programs to motivate healthy habits and engagement with consumers and community groups. Insurer data is normalized to account for plan sizes, the company said, and the EveryMove 100 index does not incorporate the costs of health care services covered by the plans, which will be presented to consumers through the federal and state exchanges.

The EveryMove advisory board, which consults on the further development of the ranking, includes Aman Bhandari, former advisor to the U.S. chief technology officer at the White House for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation and founder of the Federal Mobile Health Collaborative; Garrison Bliss, MD, EVP of medical affairs at Qliance Medical Management; and Matthew Holt, Co-Chairman of Health 2.0.

"Consumers need information and transparency when making health decisions. But it's often difficult for them to find trustworthy, valid information,” Bhandari said. “Data-driven, easy-to-understand tools like this index empower people to make decisions and drive us toward a more patient-centered health care system."

Highlights from the current index:

• The top-rated plan is the Capital District Physician’s Health Plan in New York

• California has the most number of plans in the EveryMove 100, with 16

• The five states with highest average-plan scores are Arizona, Tennessee, North Carolina, Washington and Connecticut.

• The five states with lowest plan averages are Utah, Idaho, Michigan, West Virginia and Louisiana.

• Nearly all plans have at least one social media account; Twitter and LinkedIn were the most popular, tied with 97 plans represented, followed by Facebook (87) and YouTube (81).

“It’s no longer rare for health care consumers or plan members to want to use social media and online tools on any device to improve their health care experience,” Holt said. “We’re well into the medium adopter phase and it's going to accelerate. But consumers can't do it alone. They need integrated tools and services from the businesses they use in health, just like they see in retail, finance, travel and more. The EveryMove 100 Index is going to help identify the insurers that are supporting this new consumer, and will show the rest how to catch up. And it can't come too soon."

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