ACHP Recommends Federal Employee Plan Comparison Tool Updates

The Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP) has proposed a number of recommendations to improve the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program’s plan comparison tool in order to boost quality and enrollment, according to a recent issue brief.

These changes seek to modify the FEHB Plan Comparison Tool which consumers use to find information and change their health plans. By improving this experience, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) could reach its goal of having over 75 percent of federal employees and retired employees enrolled in a health plan.

Due to the current issues with the Plan Comparison Tool, there is a lack of enrollment in FEHB health plans. Information on the site is not easily accessible for consumers, and some information is not available at all, according to the brief.

“A recent independent assessment of OPM by the National Academy of Public Administration refers to OPM’s ‘outdated, antiquated technology environment’ and the OPM website as ‘neither user-friendly nor user-centric,’” the ACHP brief stated.

Ensuring that federal employees are fully aware of and can access their plan options will trigger a positive chain reaction. Easier access can lead to higher health plan enrollment numbers which in turn can result in the improved health and wellbeing of individuals as well as the federal workforce as a whole.

ACHP recommended the following changes to ease the shopping experience and improve access to information, creating a more efficient way for consumers to manage their health plans using the comparison tool.

First, the Health Plan Comparison Tool should display health plan quality ratings in a highly visible spot on the site. The ratings should be easily accessible to consumers during their plan shopping.

Next, there should be a total cost calculator added to the site. This tool would allow consumers to get an idea of what their healthcare spending would look like when selecting a specific plan. It would also help with price comparison.

Another recommendation from the ACHP was to add a feature allowing consumers to view plans by sorting them into categories such as “total expected cost” or “quality of care.”

A filtering tool would let consumers apply specific criteria to their searches in order to narrow the plan options in their view. This would prevent them from reading about plans that do not offer the features that they need.

Lastly, the ACHP recommended that the FEHB site create a single platform that allows consumers to compare plans and select a plan using the same tool. This could simplify the process of choosing a health plan and would likely lead to higher enrollment. It could also improve data-sharing between OPM and FEHB plans, according to the brief.

ACHP noted the importance of nudging tactics when it comes to boosting enrollment in high-quality health plans. By implementing the targeted nudges that ACHP suggested adding to the site along with emails and letters encouraging members to switch to a better-quality plan, OPM can increase the number of enrollees.

The FEHB program is the largest employer-sponsored health plan program in the world. According to the brief, seven in ten federal employees cited the FEHB program as a factor that drove them to accept a federal job or remain in their federal employment position.

There is room for improvement for many payers when it comes to health plan enrollment and plan comparison processes.

For example, a portion of Medicare Advantage members found their enrollment process confusing and not all members understood the distinction between the different types of coverage options, according to a past survey by Better Medicare Alliance.

More than half (62 percent) of Medicaid or qualified health plan enrollees who needed plan selection assistance reported that they sought help because they could not understand their coverage options, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) study. The study found that complex application processes were also an issue for some consumers.