How insurance companies can rebuild trust

The online response to the recent murder of Brian Thompson, CEO of Unitedhealthcare, revealed long brewing resentment against insurance companies. Damaged with their reputation, how can paying trust in American consumers rebuild?

To rebuild trust, payers must restore her basis: credibility. Transparency in costs and quality is the key to restoring credibility and ultimately trust. Insurers must respond to the needs of the consumer, and they will have to embrace a new business model that incentives on the results of the results are important for patients. Consumers must be enabled with clear information to make informed decisions about their care.

As I wrote in a recent column, anger is growing towards insurers and organizations in the provision of care as the care becomes more expensive and more complex without a corresponding increase in positive health results. According to resistanceAmericans’ rating of the quality of health care in the US has been at the lowest point in the Gallup study since 2001, when they started keeping the statistics.

Afvanging financial incentives are the core of building resentment. Under the current business model, insurance companies earn more money as they deny more claims. Extreme, if patients die because care was downright refused or delayed by the use of prior authorization or step therapy there is little impact for the insurer.

At the same time, it is remarkably challenging for consumers to get information about costs, quality and results in healthcare. Even after they have undergone a procedure and look at the explanation of benefits sent by their insurer, they do not always know for sure which services they have received, how much those services cost or what they owe. For too much the message is: my insurer does not care about me or my health needs. This erosion of trust stems from years of broken promises and opaque practices that insurers now have to work actively to return.

Trust must be earned by establishing credibility; It is the result of the consistent to meet promises, to communicate value and to act transparent and predictably. When insurance providers do not comply with promises-by means of surprise invoicing, unexpected refusal or opaque decision-making, it returns the entire system and positions insurers as the enemy instead of maintaining health.

Instead of seeing insurance as a valuable investment in their health and financial security, consumers now expect their insurance companies to disappoint them with refused claims, despite the high premiums and dedications they pay month after month.

Customers believe that they follow the rules and meet their obligations, but because insurers work so unclear, they are often blinded with bills in the thousands of dollars. This is how trust is lost.

A small way to rebuild lost trust is to recognize errors: It is value to say: “This was not clear.” Andrew Witty, CEO of UnitedHealth Group did this effectively in one on In the New York Times in the aftermath of the murder of Brian Thompson and said: “Healthcare is both intensely personal and very complicated, and the reasons for decisions about coverage are not well understood.”

Coverage decisions are usually a black box for consumers, who feel frustrated and powerless without the ability to find out the answer in itself. Insurers who openly recognize their mistakes and demonstrate a commitment to do justice to things, not only regaining credibility, but also humanize their activities.

But rebuilding trust requires more than words – it requires transparency, clear communication and a consistent effort to ensure that consumers understand the value for which they pay.

Transparency is a basis of trust, and for insurers this means replacing the coverage that healthcare has long been defined by clear, consistent communication. Say what you are going to do, do what you say, and if there is an opening, explain why.

A real dedication to transparency requires standardized, easily accessible information about prices, coverage policy and claim decisions. Consumers should not need a diploma to understand their coverage or to be blinded by hidden loads. Rules must be applied clearly, logically and consistently. And when insurers cannot make a request, they must explain why, and even better, reasonable alternative solutions instead of just saying no.

It consistently concerned with these principles over time will restore credibility and deserve the trust of consumers. Insurers can provide valuable services and work as credible experts and partners. Payers are best positioned to be partners in good health when stimuli are tailored to rewarding better health results. This means embracing a new business model that makes prevention, early intervention and coordinated care important for the bottom line – shifting the outdated focus on refusing the claim. And they have to do this in collaboration with care provision organizations that have had difficulty embracing a different model.

By connecting to transparency and being in accordance with stimuli about a new business model, insurers can enable consumers to make the tools and information they need to make self -assured decisions and at the same time show value in ways: better health results , fewer financial surprises and simpler processes.

Ultimately, embracing this shift is a competitive advantage for payers. Repairing the broken relationship with the public – are seen as allies instead of opponents – is essential to remain profitable.

Resentment compared to insurance companies is not inevitable – it is a symptom of an opaque, broken system. A dedication to honesty, clarity and demonstrating value is the first step in the direction of eliminating hostility and creating a healthier future.