Five Vital Lessons from My First Year with Amplifon

Like me, maybe you didn’t know that hearing loss is the third most common chronic health condition in the United States.[1] In fact, nearly 48 million Americans have some degree of hearing loss[2], and this includes one in three seniors older than age 60.[3] Sadly, fewer than 20% of seniors who could benefit from hearing aids purchase them.[4]

Of course, I wanted to know why there’s such a disconnect between the problem and the solution. First, I learned how expensive hearing aids are — easily costing more than $5,000 for a pair. This puts them out of reach for many Americans who don’t have a hearing benefit. Secondly, as I found out, there’s often a stigma attached to wearing hearing aids, especially among younger Americans, despite advances that have made these devices virtually undetectable.

At the same time, the incidence of hearing loss is increasing due to a number of factors, including an aging population and exposure to excessively loud music and other sounds. Even younger people are at risk, attributable in part to their love of video gaming and the sound effects blasting through their headphones.

Most importantly, I’ve learned that a high-quality hearing benefit can change perceptions and make a positive difference for individuals with hearing loss. Unfortunately, many of today’s hearing benefits are designed and controlled by hearing aid manufacturers. As the Academy of Audiology stated in their recent CMS comment letter, these manufacturer-owned benefit administrators’ vested interest is in generating hearing aid sales. Consequently, plans with these benefits fall short of the goal to make hearing aids more affordable and enable members to enjoy the gift of sound.

I was surprised to learn that hearing aids don’t just improve a person’s hearing ability; they can also have a positive impact on overall health. Specifically, when your members purchase and regularly wear hearing aids, they reduce the risk of chronic health conditions, such as kidney disease, diabetes, ischemic heart disease and stroke, plus the costly comorbidities of untreated hearing loss, including depression, dementia, and injury-causing falls. I encourage you to read an article by Dr. Carrie Meyer, our Director of Clinical Programs, about the science behind these connections.

Besides improving a member’s whole-person health, reducing the risk of these health conditions can save health insurers tens of thousands of dollars for treating just one individual over the course of a year. For the health plan, this translates to a significant downstream return on investment.

As I’ve discovered, good hearing can also elevate your members’ quality of life, whether it’s enabling them to participate more fully in conversations at family gatherings or enhancing their ability to communicate and perform in the workplace. In addition, good hearing can help prevent social isolation, which often leads to depression.

Despite a host of positive impacts, we often see overall low utilization of hearing benefits from competitor plans. On the flip side, health plans with an Amplifon benefit are often able to double their utilization, which leads to greater downstream impact on ROI. Check out this article by Scott Kosinski, our Vice President of Sales and Account Management, who details the hidden value of hearing health care.

I’ve definitely learned about the importance of a care center that offers concierge-level service to members. Amplifon spends, on average, more than 10 minutes on the phone with members — three times longer than most insurance call centers.[5] Besides answering members’ questions, we schedule their visit with a hearing care provider, and we send them appointment reminders, timely educational emails, provider follow up, etc. to assist members through their hearing care journey.

One question I hear frequently is “Why do you encourage members to contact you directly rather than sending them to a provider portal?” While we do give members the option to access care via our provider locator, we understand the value of interaction with our knowledgeable team. For most people, hearing loss is a difficult health condition to navigate. Also, members typically have a lot of questions and concerns, such as what to expect from their provider and how their benefit works. In many cases, a caretaker or family member is involved in a call, so we make certain we follow HIPAA and TCPA-protocols.

In summary, our concierge-level service plays a major role in ensuring a positive member experience, and it’s a big reason why our member experience measures exceed the scores of 5-Star health plans.

One key advantage Amplifon has over other hearing benefit administrators, as I discovered, is the access to care we afford to members.

If you’ve dealt with other administrators, you’ve probably been told that there are “thousands” of providers in their hearing care network. In reality, the product formulary that comes with their benefit significantly reduces the number of locations where your members can actually receive care.

Here’s why: Providers typically offer one or two brands of hearing aids. The problem is, most administrators are owned by hearing aid manufacturers, and their formularies are limited to the brands made by each manufacturer. Consequently, the hearing benefit steers your members to the providers who offer their specific brands of hearing aids. This means, of course, that the real-life network may be only a fraction of the size of the administrator’s overall stated network. For additional insights into this topic, I encourage you to read an article by Rebecca Ballou, our National Business Development Executive.

As the only hearing benefits administrator not owned by a manufacturer, Amplifon works with all leading manufacturers, and our formulary contains nearly 800 product options representing up to 10 leading brands. As a result, your members enjoy access to our full network of 7,000+ provider locations — which means more convenient care, a hearing solution that’s tailored to their specific needs, and an overall more positive experience.

I was amazed to discover the extent of Amplifon’s leadership in developing and enhancing hearing benefits, all with the goal of ensuring an exceptional member experience and an enhanced return on investment for our partners. Our innovation definitely sets us apart from the other administrators who are content to offer a 'check-the-box' benefit that changes very little over the years.

For a deep dive into Amplifon innovations, I suggest reading an article by Manpreet Saini, our Director of Product Innovation and Continuous Improvement. Following are a couple innovations I really enjoy talking about:

• Amplifon-branded hearing aids — Normally with company-branded products, features and functionality are reduced in order to achieve a lower price. What I love about our Amplifon-branded hearing aids is that we’ve increased the functions and features while maintaining an affordable price point. New hearing aid users often find it difficult to develop a consistent routine for using their devices. Our care monitoring advocate team can address this challenge by regularly monitoring hearing aid usage, and if usage falls below specific thresholds, they can provide additional support through personalized coaching to help members get off to a successful start. Additionally, we assist with troubleshooting non-clinical issues and, if necessary, refer members to the appropriate clinicians for clinical support. This feature stems from research showing that hearing aid usage of more than four hours per day, and ideally at least 8 hours per day, reduces the risk of social isolation, depression, dementia, and slips and falls as well as higher levels of member satisfaction.
• Amplifon Everywhere — We’re rolling out this exclusive program to assist members who lose or damage their hearing aids while traveling abroad. In these instances, members can call our international support line and be connected with a local Amplifon provider. If needed, our interpreter services can help the member communicate with the provider. Considering that 37% of seniors are planning a trip abroad in 2024, Amplifon Everywhere offers a tremendous value-add benefit for many members.

When I consider these and numerous other innovations, I feel excited to be part of Amplifon. More importantly, these advantages help elevate our partners to “hero” status in the eyes of their members!