Key Innovations to Boost Hearing Benefit Utilization

At Amplifon Hearing Health Care, we’re constantly asking ourselves this question: How can we innovate so that more members with hearing loss will use their hearing benefit, all the while improving their experience?

We’re driven by the reality that a huge number of Americans have hearing loss but aren’t purchasing or wearing the hearing aids that could improve their lives. Among adults ages 70 and older with hearing loss who could benefit from hearing aids, fewer than one in three has ever used them. Even fewer adults ages 20-69 (approximately one in six) who could benefit from wearing hearing aids have ever used them.[1] We also know that untreated hearing loss is connected to a host of chronic health conditions and key comorbidities that reduce quality of life and end up costing health plans millions of dollars in medical care.

From our decades of experience, we’ve gained a deep understanding of individuals with hearing loss — and we know that they require a high level of patient care and support. People with hearing loss wait four years on average to acknowledge their hearing loss and visit a hearing care professional.

Because members with hearing loss need more care, we cannot simply drive these individuals to a website and expect them to find a provider and schedule an appointment. Our care center’s concierge service includes spending an average of more than 10 minutes on the phone with each member – 3x longer than general healthcare call centers.

During these calls, our care advocates educate and motivate members to take action and overcome their objections. Our team also answers questions about the hearing benefit and what to expect at a hearing care appointment — it’s a very different experience than dental or vision care, especially since members don’t know what to expect. Ultimately, we assist members with scheduling a visit to a hearing care provider, and we follow up with appointment reminders.

Based on our vast number of member interactions, we’re able to generate insights to understand where members struggle with their hearing journey. This is done by integrating data from member inquiries, inbound and outbound call dispositions, email/chat/text messaging/social media interactions, appointment information, and hearing aid fitting information. As a result, we’ve gained tremendous insights into the gaps in hearing care journey. In response, we’re able to provide a personalized experience to address specific concerns. Does our methodology work? During the past two years of monitoring our efforts, we’ve documented the following results:

• Members calling to schedule a visit with a hearing care provider: up 10%
• Members showing up for their appointment: up 10%
• Hearing aid purchases: up 20%

Amplifon’s innovative approach to the member experience continues long after the hearing aid fitting; we continually communicate with and support members, reinforcing the value of consistent hearing aid use in reaching their goals.

Amplifon’s robust set of concierge services extends to our unique care monitoring team, which reports to Dr. Carrie Meyer. Team members specialize in providing services that go beyond traditional hearing care, such as a clinically validated virtual hearing screening, on-demand virtual visits, and usage monitoring of Amplifon hearing aids to improve outcomes. You’ll find more detail about these services below.

Members can conveniently undergo an accurate assessment of their hearing through our clinically validated virtual hearing screening, developed in partnership with Vanderbilt University.

We developed our virtual screening, in part, as a response to the potential growth of over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids. Our screening helps members identify whether they need OTC or prescription hearing aids. Because we know their hearing screening results, we have the ability to identify if members are misusing their benefits on OTC hearing aids.

Another key differentiator with the Amplifon virtual screening is the personal touch it includes. Once the screening is completed, our specialized care team will guide members through their results, explaining their degree of hearing loss and whether OTC devices (for a mild to moderate loss) or prescription hearing aids fit by a hearing care professional (for a more severe loss) are right for them.

Our latest innovation is Amplifon Everywhere, our global access program. We initiated this program (no-cost enrollment) based on what we’ve learned about seniors and health plan members. According to AARP, 37% of seniors plan to travel outside of the U.S. in 2024.

So, what happens if they experience hearing aid damage or loss in another country? Amplifon is ideally positioned to help because we own and operate more than 8,000 locations outside the U.S., including 7,000 locations across 14 European countries; 800 in India, China, Australia, and New Zealand; and 300 in Canada, Mexico and South America. By calling our international support line, members are directed to a qualified local provider for the needed service, including emergency repair or even a complimentary loaner (security deposit required) hearing aid that they return upon arriving back in the U.S. 

At Amplifon, we’re constantly looking for opportunities to innovate and improve the member experience, while delivering a stronger return on investment for our health plan partners. These innovations and improvements are intended to benefit members and our partners both now and well into the future. Our efforts are yielding significant results, including twice the member utilization of our hearing benefit vs. the competition[4] and a substantially higher ROI for our partners with roughly the same investment. Furthermore, our commitment to a great member experience is reflected in our CAHPS scores, which exceed even those of many 5-Star health plans. If you’re interested in replacing your ‘check-the-box’ hearing benefit with a true differentiator, I urge you to reach out to our exceptional Amplifon team — we’re eager to show you how to ‘amplify’ your hearing benefit!