Company: Humana, Inc., Louisville, KY
Company Description: Humana Inc., is one of the nation’s largest publicly traded health and supplemental benefits companies, with approximately 10.2 million medical members, 7.1 million specialty members. Humana is a full-service benefits and well-being solutions company, offering health, pharmacy and supplemental benefits for employer groups, government programs and individ
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications Department of the Year
 Nomination Title: Humana’s Marketing, Regulatory and Operational Communications (MROC)
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the achievements of the nominated department since January 1 2023, OR written answers to the questions for this category? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this first question: Briefly describe the nominated department: its history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 199 words used.
Humana’s Marketing, Regulatory and Operational Communications (MROC) empowers consumers through innovative communications, utilizing process, data, business intelligence and technology to increase effectiveness and efficiencies. MROC produced 1,229,850,045 communications January–November 2024 via Explanation of Benefits (EOBs), emails, letters, campaigns, texts and voice-activated technology (VAT) calls. EOBs are core communications (237M annually), but we produce many more: billing and commission statements, Annual Notice of Change/Evidence of Coverage, drug lists and checks. SmartSummary is Humana’s version of the government-mandated EOB, which consolidates messages that otherwise mail separately.
MROC translates many of these communications and drives sales growth through marketing campaigns. We enable prospective members to access tools while shopping to identify the best plan while soliciting a response to enroll with Humana. MROC’s campaign marketing team also encourages members to engage in special programs to fully utilize benefits (e.g., communicating to diabetic members to enroll in diabetic programs).
MROC reviewed 5,000 communications to healthcare providers to ensure top quality, accuracy, brand adherence and appropriate tone.
MROC produced 5.8M communications in alternate formats: Braille (16K), large print (5.5M), accessible PDF (162K) and read-over-the-phone (108K).
A data and reporting team tracks communications sent, recipients and delivery method.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this second question: Outline the department's achievements since the beginning of 2023 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 248 words used.
SmartSummary personalized messaging for a health assessment getting minimal participation, increased assessment completion 5.5%, reducing mailing cost—one of many consolidations producing $14M cost avoidance.
MROC redesigned five communications, optimizing readability and space, saving $275K in print and postage.
Our SMS team ran multiple campaigns, encouraging member participation in wellness activities or promoting cancer screenings, mammograms or flu shots with 44% engagement rates and 40% click rates.
Some members chose large-print communications, unaware they’re for the visually impaired and increase paper use. A VAT call educated them and confirmed their preference, changing 175,437 members to standard format, creating $5,789,421 annual print-and-postage savings.
MROC translated 1,788 projects through Q3 spending 70% of budget. We contracted a less-costly vendor for Medicare Annual Communications, and MROC assumed personal health information translations.
MROC’s campaign marketing brainstormed the streamline, workflow, improvement for faster turnaround (SWIFT) model. SWIFT incorporated data requirements and approvals into business requirements documentation, reducing cycle time by 10 days.
The Audience Selection team creates audience files for campaigns from diverse data sources. They created a detailed capacity tracker and templates, reducing build time by 30%.
MROC launched shared hybrid execution (SHE) because coordinating multiple journeys across different lines of business (LOBs) was inefficient. SHE includes cross-trained developers and QA-testers supporting Sales Force Marketing Cloud journeys and change requests across multiple LOBs. We successfully piloted a Campaign Execution Manager to orchestrate development across multiple LOBs within the SHE. This reduced cycle times from 90 to 60 days.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this third question: Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other communications departments in your industry and/or to the depatrment's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 249 words used.
More than $14M in cost avoidance from communications consolidation demonstrates streamlined communications sent to members through SmartSummary, thereby improving experience through personalized communications. The result is business partners are not required to spend additional funds to send their messages.
The 5.5% increase in health assessment completions through SmartSummary implementation demonstrates the power of SmartSummary’s 90% readership rate. It’s a powerful communication tool for Humana, increasing communication response rates and reducing costs.
Without spending on new software, tools or IT, MROC analyzed existing communications, and redesigned them to be more consumer-friendly while reducing page count and saving $275K.
SMS is cost-effective, and a 40% engagement and click rate far exceeds the average direct-mail open rate (3%) and is more than double Humana’s average engagement and click rates. The VAT call, which clarified large print is for the visually impaired and triples the amount of pages as standard print, saved the enterprise $5,789,421 annually.
The translation team came in under budget by negotiating new contract pricing and bringing some work back in-house, freeing up funding for other projects.
SWIFT eliminated developers writing data requirements and sending for approval by incorporating them into business requirements documentation, reducing cycle time by 10 business days. In addition, Audience Selection created a capacity tracker and built templates to expedite work, reducing build time by 30%; SHE model implementation also reduced cycle times for SFMC journeys from 90 to 60 days. We’re turning campaigns around much faster and launching more campaigns each year.
- You have the option to answer this final question: Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 86 words used.
The CMS EOB model instructions attachment is the government’s model of requirements for an EOB. You’ll notice the drastically different look and feel between this and SmartSummary. We took all the required information from the model and designed it in an easy-to-read format, highlighting what is most important to members. Also attached is a before and after version of a redesigned communication that contributed to print cost savings. You’ll also find the message database used for consolidating communications into SmartSummary as well as sample translation pieces.
| Attachments/Videos/Links: |
|---|
|
