Oregon’s Health CO-OP has partnered with Insignia Health to integrate the Patient Activation Measure (PAM) and Flourish online health management platform for its members.
February 24, 2014
Oregon’s Health CO-OP has partnered with Insignia Health to integrate the Patient Activation Measure (PAM) and Flourish online health management platform for its members.
Unlike other health insurance companies, Oregon’s Health CO-OP was created by Oregonians for Oregonians. It operates as a member-directed health plan specifically within the new health care environment created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the health insurance marketplace in Oregon.
The CO-OP is committed to enabling its members to dramatically increase their own self-health management, according to Dr. Ralph Prows, president and CEO of Oregon’s Health CO-OP.
As a new insurance entity with no history of member utilization or premium/reserve balancing, the CO-OP must comply with ACA’s mandated financial requirements. It must meet the 80% minimum medical loss ratio (MLR), offer guaranteed issue for preexisting conditions, and eliminate lifetime maximum payouts. These challenges – combined with its “members-first” mission -- led the CO-OP to partner with Insignia Health to leverage the measurement power of the Patient Activation Measure (PAM) assessment.
PAM will allow the CO-OP to stratify new members along a continuum of low to high activation.
Numerous independent research studies have shown that individuals who are overwhelmed or not highly motivated (i.e., low-activated) struggle with managing their health and have significantly higher health care costs. Conversely, high-activated individuals are typically good self-managers of their health.
"Capturing and understanding a member’s health activation level is crucial to creating strong, long-term relationship with each person," explained Dr. Prows. "This gives us the opportunity to truly personalize support and education based upon each member's self-management abilities from Day 1.”
The CO-OP will administer PAM, along with a general health assessment, to new members via Insignia’s Flourish online health management program. Flourish then returns the appropriate level of health education content back to the member based on his/her PAM score, health conditions and health interests.
This enables the CO-OP to create tailored experiences designed to increase each member’s activation level over time. CO-OP members participating in the SiMPLE plans will receive financial rewards for participating in both PAM and the health assessment.
Flourish provides members with information and support consistent to their activation level through an interactive set of challenges, articles, videos, quizzes, journaling, and social networking opportunities that improve their self-management abilities. A member’s progress in the program is recognized through a system of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. The CO-OP will also have access to a portal within Flourish that allows health coaches to provide online support directly to members, including the ability to recommend content, send and receive messages, and provide goal-setting guidance.
"By analyzing the aggregate PAM scores, Oregon’s Health CO-OP will also gain valuable insight into the immediate and long-term needs of their membership," said Chris Delaney, founder and CEO of Insignia Health. "Flourish, as one key application of a PAM score, allows a decade of health activation research to be efficiently applied to continuously improve the health and wellness of CO-OP members.”
