National Health Equity Advisory Board promotes consumer engagement to advance health equity

Health is a fundamental human right, according to the World Health Organization, and health equity is achieved when everyone can attain their full potential for health and well-being.¹ A few of the factors that impact health disparities include limited access to quality care, language barriers, environmental conditions and community features such as provider or food shortage areas.² UnitedHealthcare National Health Equity Advisory Board’s recent whitepaper, “The Medicaid program and its role in advancing health equity through consumer engagement” delves into the use of consumer engagement to improve health equity.

Consumer engagement

Consumer engagement, or member engagement, is a critical strategy for identifying health system challenges and opportunities, advancing more equitable health policies and helping to build trust between consumers and those delivering care. Medicaid members are often the most affected by Medicaid policy changes and bring expertise on how specific policies have impacted them and their communities. Utilizing this expertise to inform future health policies can improve programs, increase access to quality health care and positive health outcomes for all Medicaid members.

Prioritizing consumer engagement in UnitedHealthcare

UnitedHealthcare embraces human-centered design principles and considers every interaction with members as an opportunity to learn, improve and connect. UnitedHealthcare has therefore taken the following steps to deepen its consumer engagement:

• Training leaders on consumer insights and best practices
• Identifying opportunities to understand consumer preferences and needs from the outset of their engagement with health plans
• Advancing consumer feedback and insight pathways including member advisory committees
• Implementing a community of practice of state-based member advisory committees
• Exploring new strategies to support consumer engagement

Health plan highlight: UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Wisconsin

UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Wisconsin has prioritized and diversified consumer engagement. They have used consumer feedback to initiate engagement, used data to inform community collaborations and made continued refinements to their member advisory committees. Another part of this initiative includes the health plan’s implementation of a customer experience forum for all member call center staff to increase understanding of the member experience. In addition, an Exceptional Member Experience Workgroup reviews monthly feedback from a variety of surveys and platforms to analyze trends. 

The health plan also expanded its approach to engaging members through the creation of their Member and Community Advisory Board (MCAB). This board is comprised of members and community-based organizations from across the state. During meetings, members are provided information on topics including Medicaid benefits, health plan operations and clinical innovations. Members’ questions and items for improvement are socialized across the health plan to inform solutions. Health plan staff then provide updates about progress being made on the feedback, ensuring accountability.

UnitedHealthcare is working to deepen consumer engagement practices across all health plans. By gathering insights from Medicaid members who have experienced policy changes significantly impacting their quality of life, UnitedHealthcare aims to evolve in a way that increases health equity for all members. Read UnitedHealthcare National Health Equity Advisory Board’s full whitepaper below to learn more.