Proven Strategies to Increase Paperless Adoption at Your Health Insurance Company
Sustainability and environmental protection are now key considerations for governments, most industries, and the general public, globally. The healthcare sector was not an early adopter of environmental thinking, but the rise of ‘green healthcare’ is a sign that it is working towards safeguarding the environment and in doing so, also protecting and promoting people’s health – which, of course, aligns perfectly with every healthcare institution’s core values. This is a fantastic opportunity for healthcare organizations, including health insurance companies, to demonstrate leadership in their communities. It is also a significant cost-saving exercise.
Defining an ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) strategy for a health insurance company is, however, a complex and multi-faceted task. But, there are some relatively simple and pragmatic steps that any health insurance company can take immediately to address its environmental responsibilities and move closer to a green healthcare goal.
Is your health insurance company ready to work towards emission goals and at the same time improve your member experience? One easy improvement could be as close as your members’ mailboxes.
Increase eStatement and eDocument uptake
Sustainability is top of mind for many consumers today, making it increasingly likely that they will consider eStatements and eDocuments. By making it easy to “turn off the paper” and showcasing how digital communications both help the environment and improve the member experience, you can achieve paperless adoption rates that would have been unthinkable a few years ago.
Here are a few proven strategies to increase paperless adoption at your health insurance company:
- Ask your members for their email addresses at every touchpoint.
- Make ’email address’ a mandatory field on all application forms.
- Send out an eWelcome Pack – useful numbers, office locations etc. via email to every new email address/member you have; include lifecycle messaging in your online strategy.
- Make eStatements the default for all new accounts and use transactional messaging to further reduce paper communications.
- Once a member is enrolled in e-Communications, keep them there with an exceptional digital experience. This can be done by leveraging advanced HTML and personalized video solutions that drive engagement with highly personalized, relevant content.
Remember, your members increasingly want to hear about and be part of your corporate sustainability story. It feels good to play a role in a change that helps the planet. Moving to digital communications is a simple way for members to contribute to your sustainability initiatives, so don’t be shy about asking them to consider it.
Are you ready to deliver a consistently positive member experience, across all channels, while also easing the shift to paperless and moving towards your net-zero emission goals? Schedule a demo to learn more
Get help from an environmentally responsible vendor
Health insurance companies understand that while many members will embrace digital communications, there will always be members for whom paper communications are the right fit, or communications that must, by law, be provided in print. The good news is that there are still ways to reduce your carbon emissions while generating these communications.
Operating an in-house print shop can often lead to inefficiencies and increased costs, both in terms of dollars and in terms of environmental impact. One way to avoid these pitfalls is by working with an environmentally responsible Customer Communications Management (CCM) vendor. This way, you can increase the efficiency of your print communications by leveraging modern equipment, resilient processes, and deep expertise for quality. This, in turn, can offer a lower carbon footprint than running older equipment in house, or having to reprint bills and other documents that don’t meet quality standards.
Ecologically conscious health insurance companies are also advised to find a vendor which will print on Forestry Stewardship Certified (FSC) environmentally friendly paper stock and offer householding (delivering multiple combined documents, related to different members of the same household, in a single package, where regulations allow it) to further reduce environmental impact.
How Doxim helps health insurance companies meet their net-zero emission goals
At Doxim, we are proud of the ways in which we help our clients work towards their net-zero emission goals. For example, by enabling clients to deliver eStatements to their customers, in 2020 Doxim CCM (Customer Communications Management) helped drive positive impact for our environment and communities:
- Saved 145,800 trees
- Eliminated 6,075 tons of paper waste – an equivalent of paper waste produced by 17,860 people in the US annually
- 130MM gallons of water conserved – an equivalent of annual water consumption of over 400 Americans or running 93,700 laundry cycles
- 45MM kWh of electricity saved – enough to power 4130 homes for a year
- 109MM pounds of CO2 – the amount produced by 9,910 cars in a year
All health insurance members have a common thread-they expect a positive and seamless communication experience, regardless of their position on the paperless adoption curve. By working with Doxim, you can ensure these needs are met, while reducing the carbon footprint of both your digital and paper-based communications.
