Blue Button 2.0 is a technology that makes it possible for beneficiaries to share their health data easily. But for many Medicare brokers, how or why to use it remains a mystery.
Below, we give you the basics of how it works and how you, as their broker, can tap into it and get the valuable health data you need. Plus, we have suggestions on bridging the “senior technology gap” you may have run into when trying to get your clients online.
And why is this important? Because according to a recent survey, 76% of brokers reported requests for more automation from their beneficiary clients. So let’s find out how to meet your customers’ needs!
Blue Button 2.0 is Medicare’s application programming interface (API) that enables beneficiaries to share their Part A, Part B, and Part D claim information with authorized 3rd party apps. For security reasons, integration with the Blue Button 2.0 API is only available to applications registered through Medicare.
Essentially, it’s a data service available for each beneficiary through their Medicare account. Once authorized, their data can be transferred to a registered quoting and enrollment platform.
The security process ensures the beneficiary can trust it because they have complete control over who and what service has access to their information.
Before Blue Button 2.0, it was a hassle for beneficiaries to see their own healthcare information anywhere except on Medicare.gov. It was even more challenging to provide that data to an insurance broker for a yearly cost savings analysis.
Now, with Blue Button 2.0 integration, an authorized quoting and enrollment application can access the beneficiary’s digital information. That means the demographics and drug data will be right at your fingertips, and you can offer your clients a more personalized quoting and enrollment experience.
Easy access to your client's health data reduces call times and gives you a head start in evaluating the best health plans that suit them.
Ultimately, it's a collaborative process geared toward improving a beneficiary's health outcomes and an agent's overall service.
Tapping into a beneficiary’s digital data can be a massive issue if they're one of the reluctant ones to embrace the technology.
But, a report from the analytics organization McKinsey and Company shows seniors may be willing to adopt technology if they trust the professionals in the industry. That includes their broker.
With a little effort, you can use that trust to begin to bridge the gap. In the long run, it will pay off for both of you. You can start by:
Trusty Select Pro, a Quote and Enroll platform powered by Trusty.care, is a complete, cloud-based health insurance quoting and enrollment platform that was designed to simplify Medicare sales and ensure seniors aren’t overpaying. It includes a unique beneficiary authorization process that makes the Blue Button 2.0 setup quick and easy.
It starts with the bulk email feature, where you can first notify all your beneficiaries at once and request permission for Blue Button 2.0 access. Then, one of two things can happen.
Trusty Select Pro is an all-in-one quoting and enrollment software that integrates Blue Button 2.0 entirely within the app using a secure integrated process.
From there, the advantages are continuous because once you’re connected to your beneficiaries' information, the Trusty.care engine is able to transfer their data into the app, and you're now able to, see, review, and save beneficiary medication claims history.
Trusty Select Pro offers an Instant Plan and Drug Review that can process up to 5,000 beneficiaries at once.
So now that you've got access to Blue Button, how can it make life easier for you as a broker?
One way is by using a tool like Trusty Select Pro that can make the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) a much smoother experience. With it, you don’t have to settle with analyzing just one client drug list at a time.
Trusty Select Pro features a tool for large batch drug reviews. To date, it has proven to free up at least 30% of the time that some brokers used to spend on drug reviews during AEP.
It's called the Instant Plan and Rx Review tool. It is sure to improve the way you manage your Medicare customers and simplify AEP.
It also makes it easy to compile, analyze and produce results that can be trusted because the information is directly from a beneficiary’s healthcare provider.
Instead of individually uploading each beneficiary’s drug information, Trusty Select Pro can import their data in one batch process.
Access to a complete picture of your beneficiaries’ health data means you can uncover new insights into the best plans for them.
Trusty Select Pro was built to use that information in a fully configurable way with available comparisons from all the national and most regional health insurance plans.
And with Trusty Select Pro, you can preview and share results within one easy-to-view screen– no toggling back and forth between platforms to see pricing and recommendations.
Trusty Select Pro presents a complete plan analysis on one easy-to-view screen.
According to the CMS, Blue Button is already a big part of managing and improving healthcare information. To date, it has been used by over one million beneficiaries to download their healthcare data to trusted sources.
Medicare brokers will continue to have an essential role to play in bringing seniors on board with the latest Medicare resources so they don’t get left behind. Creating an ongoing, positive relationship with your clients and gaining trust in the available technology will be the foundation for a successful adjustment.
Learn how Trusty Select Pro can help connect you to Blue Button technology and help improve the health outcomes of your clients. Schedule a no-obligation demonstration soon.