To Make Enrollment Gains Permanent, Enroll America Launches New Training Academy

This week, more than 800 enrollment leaders from across the country are preparing to gather at our second national State of Enrollment conference in Washington, DC. We’ll be sharing learnings of the second open enrollment period and taking a critical look at the challenges that lie ahead as we seek to enroll the remaining uninsured and make sure those who have enrolled retain their coverage.

A major topic of discussion will be how we plan to build a more sustainable model for enrollment that will last years and decades to come. In pursuing that vision, a crucial piece of the puzzle will be training local organizations on the successful tactics that we’ve honed as part of our Get Covered America campaign over the past two enrollment cycles.

That’s why there is so much excitement to launch the Get Covered Academy, a comprehensive new suite of training, consulting and support services on topics ranging from consumer engagement, to getting the most out of sophisticated data targeting and digital tools, to tailored market and demographic analysis for organizations and businesses doing enrollment work.

The goal of the program is to train local organizations on how to replicate the success of the Get Covered America outreach model so they can be equipped with the innovative skills, knowledge, and tools needed to implement lasting local enrollment efforts in the years to come.

The training philosophy is based on a two-way engagement to create a customized experience. We sustain an ongoing relationship with the partners we provide training to, we ask for a commitment on their part, we follow up with them throughout the course of their program development, and we track our results. This deep level of commitment between our organization and the partner leads to meaningful changes in a program that results in real, measurable outcomes.

What does this look like in practice? During the second open enrollment period, we organized a hands-on training for a network of health centers in South Florida. The training focused on the use of our online scheduling tool the Get Covered Connector, media outreach, and how to make follow-up calls to consumers to increase their likelihood of enrolling. Following this training, Health Council of South Florida scheduled nearly 500 appointments using the Connector, with a 73 percent attendance rate. Our training helped HCSF maximize the use of the scheduling tool and follow-up, resulting in improved enrollment outcomes.

Another example is an in-person training we provided last summer for Westside Family Healthcare in Delaware on outreach tactics and planning. As a result of that training, the health center implemented a new system to identify more uninsured consumers and provide tailored follow-up. This new system utilized “commit cards,” a tactic we found successful in the Get Covered America campaign, that allowed patients and community members to indicate their interest in enrollment assistance. Among all of the commit cards collected, 47% resulted in an application or enrollment assistance. As well, we facilitated an outreach training on expanding existing referral networks with community partners, which became one of Westside’s most successful strategies in getting consumers covered.

Anne Filipic serves as President of Enroll America, a non-profit organization dedicated to maximizing the number of Americans who enroll in and retain health coverage made available through the Affordable Care Act.