Family Link project
Using technology to improve 1:1 care coordination
SITUATION
Patient perspective: Families of children with special needs navigate a complicated health care system. They face challenges making health decisions about insurance, care delivery and social services.
Provider perspective: Providers find it difficult to resolve their payer- and member-related queries. They experience being transferred multiple times and need to call many times to get their queries answered. This has a negative effect on members’ ability to receive access to the best care.
SOLUTION
Family Link is a persistent chat engagement channel. It's designed from the point of view of someone on a health care journey. This platform connects members to specialists in care coordination, disease management, health education, case management, inpatient transition, referral management and planning for transition to adulthood.
OUTCOMES
Patient benefits: For families of children with special needs, the Family Link experience:
- Improves speed and quality to resolve complex issues
- Provides greater guidance with care navigation
- Offers better help with care decision-making
Provider benefits: Providers realize the value of Family Link through increased patient and provider satisfaction. Parents are better informed and kids are healthier, with decreased costs and better health outcomes.
See Family Link in action
Family Link is being used to help families that have children with special needs navigate the health care journey.
[Narrator] Healthcare can be a complicated journey. Especially when your child has special needs.
My daughter, Mira, she's about 10 1/2 now and she is a delight.
I brought back a ton.
[Dan] You brought back a ton? Oh sweet, let's see what you got. My daughter also happens to have Kabuki syndrome which is a rare epigenetic mutation.
[Narrator] Finding the right doctors, understanding your insurance, managing your claims, can be overwhelming. That's the idea behind Family/Link, a new communications tool to help our members who have children with special needs.
Family/Link is a good idea because it simplifies the ways that families get in contact with UnitedHealthcare.
[Narrator] Family/Link lets members easily connect with their dedicated advisor on the Special Needs Initiative team. Messages are exchanged through an online platform, messages that don't disappear after you log out.
[Dan] It's really easy. It's just like you were texting a friend. They respond back to you when they get the message.
Narrator] Family members and caregivers can also join Family/Link, so everyone is connected. Members can also securely upload and store documents so advisors can resolve issues like unpaid claims. Medications and contact information are in one central place and in future designs of Family/Link, a space for provider interactions will be added to the platform.
Family/Link allows me to be a lot more efficient in what I'm doing which allows me then to take care of more families and answer questions.
Narrator] Efficiency, combined with people who care. Together, it means less burden for families so they can focus on what's important.
Family/Link basically allows me to spend more time with my family. Yes, that's right.
[Narrator] The support doesn't stop there. Family Compass is a tool integrated into Family/Link. It helps families with a child who's newly diagnosed with certain special needs understand what to expect at every age. Family Compass gives families suggestions for care and also provides links to valuable resources and programs as their child develops.
- It allows them to plan ahead for their child's future, eliminate some of that fear of the unknown, and connect up with their advisor using one main, shared information site.
- [Narrator] Family/Link and Family Compass, innovation to improve the healthcare journey for those who need it most.
"Family Link gives us a shared platform that allows us to provide the best care we can to our patients, while keeping PCCN and UHC closely in sync. We’re excited about what Family Link is able to provide us now and looking forward to the future of the tool."
- Bryce Sherman, Director of Operations, Phoenix Children's Care Network