SCAN Healthplan - Management Team of the Year

Company: SCAN Healthplan, Long Beach, CA
Company Description: SCAN is a not-for-profit organization that is committed to keeping seniors healthy and independent. SCAN has delivered on this mission since 1977 through SCAN Health Plan, one of the largest not-for-profit Medicare Advantage plans in the nation. SCAN also offers education programs, community funding, volunteer opportunities and other community services throughout its California service area.
Nomination Category: Management Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Management Team of the Year - Consumer Services Industries

Nomination Title: SCAN's Member Services Management Team

Tell the story about what this nominated management team has achieved since January 1 2018 (up to 650 words). Describe the specific impacts the management team has had on your organization Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms.

For the last 40 years, SCAN has remained dedicated to its mission of keeping seniors healthy and independent. As one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit Medicare Advantage health plans, SCAN’s continued commitment to member satisfaction is upheld by a leadership team that understands and builds upon member and employee feedback and its call center’s ability to successfully resolve members’ needs.

SCAN’s member service call center is staffed by Member Service Advocates (MSAs) who are highly trained and equipped to handle a variety of calls, from simple benefit questions to detailed pharmacy coverage. Unlike many call centers, SCAN does not have a maximum call time, which empowers MSAs to spend as much time with each caller as necessary. Advocates are encouraged to deliver a “wow” experience to members, focusing on quality over quantity. Contrary to other call centers that strive for the highest number of answered calls, the department leadership provides coaching to incorporate efficiencies to maximize key performance indicators such as call work, hold, and talk time.

As of January 2018, SCAN’s call center achieved a 90 percent satisfaction rate from customers and a service level of 84 percent of calls answered in 30 seconds or less. SCAN members have expressed their gratitude for being able to easily connect directly with a live agent, rather than navigating through various phone prompts.

In late 2017, SCAN introduced the Voice of the Customer (VOC) and Service Recovery Process, where members are given the option to complete a telephonic satisfaction survey following an interaction with an Advocate. During the survey, members can share their honest feedback about their experience, which in turn provides the SCAN management team an opportunity to review areas of improvement for future interactions. A vital component of this program involves members of the management team making direct callbacks to survey participants. While this new process helps to develop trust with members, it has also provided SCAN the opportunity to identify and implement process improvements and provide coaching and recognition to select Advocates. Members have said they appreciate the callbacks and appreciate SCAN’s caring and concern. Since January 2018, this program has yielded 99.2% member satisfaction rate.

In addition to member input, the management team also seeks out employee feedback. Each year, SCAN conducts an engagement survey that measures key topics such as job satisfaction, communication, and leadership. Department leaders and employees then work together to develop and implement action plans that include ongoing status reports.

Employee feedback and engagement is encouraged and conducted through:

-Brown Bag lunches provide employees an opportunity to develop their knowledge on a variety of topics, learn about new opportunities.
-Skip Level meetings are roundtable sessions that enable Advocates to candidly discuss with managers their overall engagement levels with their reporting leadership team; highlighting areas of effectiveness while identifying opportunities for improvement.
-Triathlon Recognition ensures employees are recognized for outstanding performance on a monthly basis. Categories include top call quality, top schedule adherence and perfect attendance. Winners for each are honored in front of their peers and management team. This employee recognition program greatly enhances overall employee morale and performance, indicated by the department’s call quality results improving from 89 percent to 94 percent over the last two years.

The member service management team proudly leads a call center in which employees value the members they serve and colleagues they work with. Through various employee appreciation programs and satisfaction surveys, the management team is able to stay connected, continually improve the quality of their work and create a positive work environment for team members at every level.

In bullet-list form, briefly summarize up to ten (10) of the chief accomplishments of this nominated management team since the beginning of 2018.

-Currently serves 195,000 health plan members in California
-The third largest not-for-profit Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug plan in the nation
-Named one of the Best Insurance Companies for Medicare Advantage in the state of California 2019 by U.S. News & World Report
-Won the Silver Award in the Nonprofit Organization category in Best in Biz Awards 2018
-In 2017, provided the community with more than $14 million
-In 2017, spent $866,000 on community giving, including grants to non-profit senior service organizations
-Recognized as 2017 Customer Service Department of the Year by the American Business Awards
-Recognized as a 2018 International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) award finalist
-Overall department Call Quality results increased from 91percent third quarter of 2017 to 94 percent during this same period in 2018
-Achieved CMS Star Rating of 4.5 Stars (out of 5) for the past two years