CASE STUDY: ATRIO & Physicians Choice Medicare Advantage Plans

Each fall, from October to December, Medicare Advantage Plans around the country have an opportunity to sign up new members during the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP). The Pac/West team has been privileged to work with ATRIO Health Plans (2008 and 2009) and Physicians Choice Plans (2009 and 2010) on this front. In both cases, the goals were:

• To increase membership during the Annual Enrollment Period
• To communicate with and retain current members
• To increase brand recognition

As is the case with all projects, the first step was to conduct research and a brief market analysis in order to develop messaging. From there, our team helped identify what communications tools were necessary to convey the messages to the target audiences (seniors, insurance agents and health care partners). One key finding for both companies was that physicians were/are the best messengers when it comes to delivering information about health care.

Once we established a work plan, we began working with the clients throughout the summer and fall to prepare for and promote their products during the Medicare AEP. During this time, we:

• Designed and coordinated production of various Medicare-required materials, including Summary of Benefits books, Annual Notices of Change, Evidence of Coverage books and formularies
• Designed and produced marketing materials, including brochures and posters for physicians’ offices
• Designed birthday and age-in cards for seniors turning 64 and approaching 65
• Designed a series of direct mail pieces, which were sent to Medicare-eligible seniors in the clients’ service areas, primarily to advertise AEP informational meetings
• Managed targeted mail lists and campaigns
• Designed and placed numerous print ads and inserts to promote AEP informational meetings
• Helped update and maintain website content and redesigns
• Designed member newsletters

Our marketing strategy and outreach activities have proven to be successful because we helped drastically increase member enrollment for our clients each year.