1) Healthcare payers are not meeting customer expectations for personalized, high-quality service across multiple channels. Customers want seamless experiences similar to other industries like retail. 2) To improve customer satisfaction and build loyalty, payers must redesign processes to be member-centric and deliver consistent experiences across all touchpoints using data and technologies. 3) By operationalizing member centricity, payers can gain insights into customer needs, improve processes, increase retention and sales, and reduce costs - leading to competitive advantage.

1. Operationalizing Customer Centricity:
A Prescription for Building Brand Loyalty
and Healthy Competitive Advantage
Payers must refine processes across multiple channels to create
a highly competitive brand based on consistently high-quality,
member-centric experiences.
Executive Summary
There is no question that the healthcare system
is ailing. Costs are rising as customer satisfac-
tion falters. New technologies, regulations and an
increasingly competitive marketplace are forcing
healthcare providers and payers to rethink how
they operate. Customers are at the center of the
tempest, and the industry must find new ways to
engage with them.
According to a report by J. D. Power & Associates,
many consumers are not satisfied with their
health insurance provider interactions, whether
paying a bill or inquiring about in-network
physicians (see Figure 1). Common reasons for dis-
satisfaction include unhelpful call center agents
and cumbersome interactive voice response (IVR)
systems. And when payers deny members’ claims,
the result is anger and distrust.
Most consumers today hold payers to the same
standards they experience with other business-
to-consumer businesses, such as retailers, in
terms of their ability to deliver highly personal-
ized, high-value services. Their experience with
online retail giants such as Amazon have taught
consumers to expect high-touch interactions
and a choice of channels, along with speedy
service and quality products. They want clear
communications about benefits and coverage in
plain language; caring and informed customer
service; and efficiency and consistency at every
touchpoint, from enrollment through billing,
across every access platform.
Most healthcare payers fall far short of this ideal,
leading to a general perception of poor service
in the market. Even with the millions of new
healthcare consumers entering the market under
the Affordable Care Act, some payers may have
a hard time attracting and retaining members.
Consumers today also have more freedom and
financial incentive to switch payers if they’re not
happy.
The time has come for health insurers to change
their approach to building customer relation-
ships. They need to reevaluate each element of
the interaction cycle, including awareness, con-
sideration, enrollment, onboarding, service, billing
and ongoing communication. Payers should also
consider how new technologies are changing
the determination of diagnoses, treatments and
ongoing care, and redesign their processes to
compete in this new context.
• Cognizant 20-20 Insights
cognizant 20-20 insights | april 2014

2. Source: J.D. Power & Associates, 2012
Figure 1
0 5 10 15 20
Office closed
Could not reach live person
System outage
Routed incorrectly
Provider DB inaccuracy
Too many transfers
Communicated timeline not met
Call hold/wait time too long
Request can't be performed
Transfer call disconnected
Content level
Plan design/provider network
Agent voice/volume/tone
Unhelpful agent
Agent knowledge gap
Inconsistent communications
IVR too difficult
Message outcome
Top Reasons for
Dissatisfaction
Process knowledge 59%
Communication 27%
Call routing 22%
Health plan operations 8%
Staffing 4%
Reasons for Member Dissatisfaction
2
To turn the situation around, healthcare payers
need to shift their focus from internal objectives
to customers. Missing the chance to understand
customer needs and failing to provide the
consistent, quality experiences they seek will lead
to irrelevance and insolvency.
This white paper probes how payers can meet
these expectations and build a strong brand
synonymous with service, quality and trustwor-
thiness. The key to competitive branding will
be “operationalizing” a member-centric vision.
Payers must use multichannel capabilities and
the data generated by members and providers to
inform and realign business processes so they can
deliver a consistent, rich experience for prospects
and members across multiple channels.
This approach will also improve business perfor-
mance and cost issues by creating a more virtual,
efficient organization. Payers following this
course will be positioned to build lifetime relation-
ships with existing members and attract new ones
for sustainable competitive advantage.
Engaging Healthcare Consumers
Today’s consumers want more engagement
with healthcare players through their preferred
channels of interaction, especially when shopping
for insurance, comparing benefits and assessing
provider quality.1
Payers aren’t meeting expec-
tations; consumers give the health insurance
industry low marks on its ability to communicate
through multiple channels.2
Consumer expectations for health insurance
services are high (see Figure 2, next page), par-
ticularly for consistent experiences at all touch-
points and channels. Providing a consistent
experience requires continuity of services, data
access and “look and feel” across channels,
whether by telephone, on the Web or via chat.
Consistently high performance is a hallmark of
strong brands, as is routine delivery of experi-
ences that meet or exceed consumer expecta-
tions. Healthcare consumers say brand strength
is a strong influence on their healthcare purchase
decisions. 3
’Operationalizing’ Member Centricity
across Multiple Channels
For payers, meeting the demands of healthcare
consumers will require infusing member-centric-
ity into business processes to deliver seamless
service and rich experiences across multiple
channels (see Figure 3, page 4). Proactively
designing the customer experience will enable
payers to make better business decisions; drive
segmentation to individual member levels;
and create customized, rich interactions with
members that epitomize their branding.
cognizant 20-20 insights

3. cognizant 20-20 insights 3
Using multiple channels and analytics, payers can
begin to retool business processes by learning
more about their members and prospects.
Frequent exchanges and alerts regarding care
management within a member segment could
trigger phone calls to members to ensure they
are satisfied with the care they are receiving
from their primary care physicians. Monitoring
social network chatter could uncover trends in
sentiment toward a particular plan or service.
Mobile apps and monitoring tools could enable
payers to communicate with members and
update member data more frequently. These
activities drive organizational-level accountabil-
ity for delivering the defined service experience.
Although healthcare regulations such as the
Health Insurance Portability and Accountabil-
ity Act (HIPPA) restrict the personally identi-
fiable data that can be shared and by whom,
payers should not consider privacy and security
concerns as barriers to customer experience.
They can still use data to personalize service
and build multichannel capabilities that address
specific member segments. Aggregated, deper-
sonalized data can offer a wealth of insight into
various demographic groups, such as how their
use of specific health resources changes over
time, and enable payers to customize offerings
and interactions with these segments.
Base: Consumers who had contacted a customer service center in the U.S. or Canada in the last three months
(percentages may not total 100 because of rounding).
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Callcentres.net and analyzed by Forrester Consulting on behalf of
Avaya, February 2011.
Figure 2
I am able to access the
information I need to
resolve my query myself
I am able to interact
with a person
Base: 247
I am able to interact with a customer
service representative quickly
Base: 259
The method to
interact with customer
service is easy to use
Base: 132
The customer service
representative had good
communication skills
Base: 129
Has a range of ways
to contact the
customer service center
Base: 65
I’m treated with respect
Base: 213
My information on
record is accurate
Base: 106
100
0
Base: 89 The customer service
representative
understands my needs
Base: 210
The customer service representative
is friendly/polite
Base: 156
The customer service representative
is easy to understand
Base: 218
The customer service
representative has access
to all my information
Base: 100
All my details are
recognized
Base: 51
The customer service
representative is
knowledgeable
Base: 289
The customer service representative
is based in this country
Base: 150
The customer service
representative is
helpful/enthusiastic
Base: 148
My query is
resolved quickly
Base: 438
43%
28%
29%
42%
29%
29%
41%
25%
33%
40%
31%
29%
38%
30%
32%
36%
33%
30%
35%
31%
34%
34%
25%
42%
31%
38%
31%
30%
38%
32%
29%
33%
38%
28%
35%
37%
27%
33%
40%
27%
36%
37%
26%
42%
32%
25%
22%
53%
24%
42%
34%
Service Expectations
What consumers want from customer service centers in order to give
them an “excellent” rating.

4. cognizant 20-20 insights 4
Before embarking on process reconfiguration,
payers must take the following three steps to
ensure their process improvements support a
strong, member-centric brand.
Step 1: Define the member experience.
• Proactively design the customer experience:
Know your customers, their intents and how
customers from each segment will satisfy
those intents.
• Actions:
>> Prioritize customer intentions.
>> Define a customer experience blueprint.
>> Implement a customer-oriented process de-
sign.
>> Assess customer communications and ex-
pectations.
>> Align training programs with customer expe-
rience objectives.
Payers can analyze their existing member base
from various perspectives to identify member
segments or even individual member behavior.
Segment data may include demographics,
health conditions, utilization rates, lifetime
value, preferred channels, etc.
Step 2: Deliver the service promise.
• Drive organizational (vendors, agents, opera-
tions management) accountability for deliver-
ing the defined service experience.
Align performance with experience objectives
from top to bottom.
• Actions:
>> Capture and evaluate every interaction.
>> Hold vendors and agents accountable.
>> Monitor customer engagement and satisfac-
tion.
>> Prioritize factors that drive customer satis-
faction and net promoter scores (CSAT/NPS).
>> Deliver more effective training to improve
the customer experience.
Payers must map member experiences to
existing processes to understand the member
perspective, with special attention to where
gaps exist between customer expectations
and the payer’s ability to deliver. This will
help identify pain points and highlight ways to
improve the member experience.
Predictive analytics can offer insights into
how the benefit needs and economic power
of various segments will evolve over time and
influence the service promise (see sidebar, next
page).
Step 3: Create programs and offerings to
expand customer relationships.
• Deepen customer relationships by increasing
share of wallet and upselling the bundle.
>> Monitor every customer against a common
customer engagement index and actively
work to extend each relationship.
Figure 3
Data and
Analytics
Plan Offerings
Member
Insights
Member
Data
Personalized
Communications
Consistent
Member
Experience
Mobil
e,Texts
&A
pps
Web &
E-mail
Soc
ial
Call C
enter
Member Centricity
Internal processes need to be aligned with member needs and expectations across multiple
channels and access platforms.

5. • Actions:
>> Collaborate on marketing campaigns.
>> Leverage an average revenue per user
(ARPU) increase framework.
>> Implement an upsell and cross-sell engine
and provide training.
>> Develop contact center sales offerings.
>> Develop more effective sales agents through
improved training and faster time to profi-
ciency.
With a granular understanding of member
segments and individuals, payers can present
new benefit options to members as their
lifestyles and economic conditions change,
whether the member is starting a family or
nearing retirement. These options can be
generated on-the-fly by smart algorithms and
workflows, making them cost-effective to offer.
Payers should consider extending their offer-
ings to complementary services, such as health
club discounts, personal trainers following
orthopedic rehabilitation, nutrition coaches,
discounted monitoring devices and rewards
programs that provide incentives for managing
chronic health issues. With some of the newer
sensor-based health monitoring devices, orga-
nizations can also track adherence to wellness
programs and provide virtual coaching to
ensure that members follow treatments that
lead to better health.
Focus on Member Centricity Improves
Business Results
When payer organizations put members at the
center of their business processes, they stand to
realize powerful business benefits, including:
• Additional value creation and business
process improvement opportunities created
Quick Take
Retailers, especially those with online roots, are
training consumers to expect their needs to be
anticipated and for appropriate solutions and
products to be offered before they ask for them.
In healthcare, insight into members’ future needs
may lead to wellness and lower costs, as well
as greater member retention rates. Predictive
analytics can help payers achieve such foresight.
Predictive analytics enables payers to anticipate
issues that will arise within segments of the health
populations they serve. The data feeding the
analytics tools can come from multiple channels,
from customer complaint logs to health resource
use to demographic data. Algorithms parse these
variables and more to predict which segments
and members are likely to be:
• At risk for disenrollment.
• Considering transitioning between plans.
• Perceiving poor payer experiences.
• Lacking early disease detection.
• Struggling to manage chronic conditions.
• Overusing diagnostic procedures or drugs.
• Misusing provider resources due to lack of
primary care access.
Predictive insights can also reveal factors contrib-
uting to member dissatisfaction, as well as missed
opportunities for member-centric offerings. Dis-
connected processes, fragmented systems and
data silos can prevent contact center representa-
tives from seeing complete member interaction
histories or failing to connect at-risk members
with care management specialists. Analytics can
also help determine where to focus on process
optimization and new service development for
the greatest return.
Optimizing the design and delivery of the member
experience through predictive analytics also helps
payers unlock value. Offering segment-driven,
personalized benefits options to members at risk
for disenrollment could lead to retained business;
for example, providing coaching to help manage
chronic conditions can reduce costs by slowing or
preventing more expensive medical intervention.
The success factor will hinge on using predictive
analytics insights to design and provide these
offerings before members ask for them.
Gaining a Deeper Understanding of Members’ Needs Through
Predictive Analytics
5cognizant 20-20 insights

6. cognizant 20-20 insights 6
through improved customer insight utili-
zation across the organization. The same
insights that assist a customer service rep-
resentative or prompt a Web server to offer
help tools can be used by internal quality
improvement, clinical, financial and marketing
functions for better decision-making.
• Cost reduction achieved through improved
integration of channels. A single view of the
member that is visible across lines of business
and multiple channels reduces contact center
costs and overhead through shortened
resolution times, resulting in a reduced cost
structure. Similar cost cuts are possible
through reduced duplication of effort, error
elimination, etc.
• Greater member retention and sales oppor-
tunities achieved through targeted com-
munications and personalized relationships
with customers. As payer organizations
consolidate data to develop rich customer
segments and use predictive analytics tools
to anticipate future behavior, they can create
detailed and granular member personas that
reflect their many types of customers. These
personas, created from segment transaction
history, demographics and predictive models,
make the potential life changes and resulting
product needs of each segment more tangible.
Creating finely detailed, insightful profiles
can help payers further personalize their
customer-centric offerings, such as knowing
which communication channels each member
type prefers and offering more personalized,
targeted offerings to member segments.
Delivering Rich Member-Centric
Experiences: A Checklist
Providing members with personalized, stream-
lined services, whether for initial enrollment
or managing chronic conditions, requires the
following capabilities:
• Collect and analyze digital data from a wide
variety of member and prospect touchpoints
as regulations permit, including monitoring of
data generated by existing members as they
interact with payer processes and provider
networks.
• Develop granular segments for customers and
prospects, based on demographics, utilization
of services, etc., to understand member needs.
• Understand member perceptions and expe-
riences with key business processes, from
enrollment through billing.
• Enable member insights to flow through the
organization to support business, financial and
clinical functions.
• Create consistent experiences for members
receiving services spanning several business
units, such as Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare,
ensure smooth coordination of benefits among
the relevant plans and provide a single point of
contact to these members.
• Offer self-service options across different
access platforms.
• Support member preferences for using a
variety of access platforms and communica-
tions tools, from mobile texts to written com-
munications.
• Use social network tools to communicate with
members (e.g., distribute health and wellness
messages or appointment alerts) and “listen”
for aggregate health concerns.
This list is ambitious but reflects today’s competi-
tive realities. Payers that execute on these capa-
bilities will build stronger brands and retain and
grow their member bases more effectively than
those struggling with data silos and non-integrat-
ed channels.
Looking Ahead
Creating value maps is one way that payers can
identify the best opportunities for immediate cost
savings and service improvements. Such maps put
member-focused initiatives into financial terms
to help drive decision-making about current and
existing services. These maps can also provide
insight into whether payers should attempt to
invest in member-centric processes internally
or work with experienced third-parties that
can deliver the required functions as services,
eliminating the need for capital investment and
making operating costs scalable and predictable.
We’re still in the early days of the transition of
healthcare to a retail-focused industry. This
time advantage gives forward-thinking payers
a window of opportunity to make effective
decisions and build brands based on member-
centric services, powered by multichannel capa-
bilities with indicative and predictive analytics.
The payers that accomplish this will create sus-
tainable differentiation in the marketplace, a solid
foundation for continued process improvement
and a loyal, strong — and ultimately profitable —
member base.

7. About Cognizant
Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process out-
sourcing services, dedicated to helping the world’s leading companies build stronger businesses. Headquartered in
Teaneck, New Jersey (U.S.), Cognizant combines a passion for client satisfaction, technology innovation, deep industry
and business process expertise, and a global, collaborative workforce that embodies the future of work. With over 50
delivery centers worldwide and approximately 171,400 employees as of December 31, 2013, Cognizant is a member of
the NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500, the Forbes Global 2000, and the Fortune 500 and is ranked among the top performing
and fastest growing companies in the world. Visit us online at www.cognizant.com or follow us on Twitter: Cognizant.
World Headquarters
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Email: inquiry@cognizant.com
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­­© Copyright 2014, Cognizant. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the express written permission from Cognizant. The information contained herein is
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About the Author
Kamesh Somanchi is a Healthcare Market Leader for business process services and global growth
markets within Cognizant’s Business Process Services Practice. His experience spans both U.S. and
international healthcare, as well as life sciences. During his career, Kamesh has assisted those industries
in areas that include product filings, sales and marketing launch strategies, product launches and post-
launch stabilization and performance improvement. He has helped clients set up shared service centers —
consolidating and optimizing operations to improve the customer experience. His expertise includes
management consulting, end-to-end process consulting, systems integration and business process out-
sourcing. Kamesh can be reached at Kamesh.Somanchi@cognizant.com.
Footnotes
1
Sherry Coughlin and Paul Kecklin, “2012 Survey of U.S. Health Care Consumers: Five-Year Look Back,”
Deloitte University Press, Dec. 14, 2012, http://dupress.com/articles/2012-survey-of-u-s-health-care-con-
sumers-five-year-look-back/.
2
“ACSI Finance & Insurance Report 2013 Third Quarter Update On Overall U.S. Customer Satisfaction,”
American Customer Satisfaction Index, Dec. 10, 2013, http://www.theacsi.org/news-and-resources/cus-
tomer-satisfaction-reports/customer-satisfaction-reports-2013/acsi-finance-and-insurance-report-2013/
acsi-finance-and-insurance-report-2013-download.
3
“More than Four in Five Americans Say Brand Is Important when Selecting a Health Insurance Plan,”
Harris Interactive, June 20, 2013, http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/
mid/1508/articleId/1217/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/Default.aspx.