2. 1
Send out email
announcements to staff and/or
volunteers at your Health
Center and feature it in
employee newsletters and
intranets
3. 2
Setup an introductory
workshop or meeting for
people within your
organization who might
be interested to learn
about the program.
4. 3
Ask your Health Center
to update email
signatures, voicemail
greetings, hold
Sample email signature:
messaging and
Each year children enrolled in
“signage” with a short Healthy Kids or MIChild need to
blurb about Promoting renewal their health insurance.
Remind families you interact with
Retention that their children’s health
insurance needs to be renewed
each year.
Make sure staff know your Health Center is participating in a retention projectFocus in specifically on “front line” folks that answer phones or greet patients in the Center to ensure they know your organization offers renewal assistance, who provides that assistance and how they should direct patients to get help with renewal
Michigan has a great track record in getting kids coverage, but a not so good outlook on keeping them enrolledUse the meeting, for example a “lunch and learn” to share the data basics, make sure staff understand when kids have to renew and what the process is like and encourage them to talk about it with their patientsEmphasize that retaining coverage is not only important for making sure kids get access to healthcare/their medical home, it also help the Health Center capture revenue which is important to maintain the mission!
Think about the number of calls that come in to your Health Center each day or the number of emails you send, embedding the retention message there is free and powerfulPromote the fact that your Health Center offers assistance for patients that need it because you know its such an important service for the families you serve
- Remember that the biggest proportion of kids get enrolled initially because a friend or family member tell them about it, try and harness this “referral source” for retention in the same way you would about promoting the services your Health Center offers
- Let us know how many you want and put them up in your sites (waiting rooms, hallways, patient accounts, bulletin boards etc.) to spread the message, MPCA will pay for the printing and mail them to you directly.
Use all of the communications resources available to your organization to promote the retention message and build awareness in your patient baseWebsitePatient NewslettersFlyers in the Waiting Room (we could create and provide)Short “Blurbs” on Patient Forms (checkout is a great place)Others? (Ask participants to Brainstorm)
Check-In and Check-Out are “prime times” to remind parents that their child’s coverage needs to be renewed, especially since coverage eligibility is typically being verified/checked at check-in anyway
Health insurance gets taken for granted until its needed mostShare stories about patients (with permission or more casually in conversation) to illustrate why health insurance is important and the importance of retaining it as long as a child remains eligible
