Blue Care Advisor
Overview
Blue Care Advisor is a Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) member app, tailored for BCBS of Minnesota members, that primarily offers access to health insurance information like benefits and claims, and facilitates finding in-network providers and services.
Key Objectives
Blue Care Advisor claims to “connect you to everything you need to manage your health.”
Through the app, BCBS of Minnesota seeks to keep its users on a path toward healthy living by focusing on preventive care to help them avoid costly health issues down the line.
They aim to provide seamless access to their members’ health insurance information, ensuring they are informed about their benefits, can track claims, and easily locate in-network care.
They also incorporate a wellness component, enabling users to complete health assessments that personalize in-app recommendations for healthcare and overall well-being.
Competitive Advantages
Brand Recognition
BCBS has been in business nearly 100 years, making it one of the most recognized and trusted names in the health insurance industry. With a presence in every state, their established reputation can be an advantage in attracting and retaining customers
Extensive network
BCBS has a vast network of healthcare providers — in many areas they contract with over 90% of hospitals and a high percentage of providers across the country. Their "BlueCard" program allows members to access care from other Blue Cross Blue Shield associations in different states, ensuring coverage across the country.
Overall Strategy
BCBS Minnesota claims to put the “member at the center of everything” as they face the challenge of modernizing legacy systems. This approach prioritizes personalized communication, emphasizes preventive care, and utilizes tools like their Blue Care Advisor app to empower members to take an active role in their health as well as access and break down their health insurance information in an easy-to-understand way.
While their product Blue Care Advisor mostly offers comparable features to other apps on the market (coverage info, benefits spending, claims tracking, provider/services search), they do look to innovate in terms of connecting users’ health data to optimize the performance of their product and the experience for their users.
Blue Care Advisor
Competitive Analysis
Usability
Usability in the app is lackluster — users may be able to accomplish their goals overall, but the app does not always make it easy to do so.
Example: On the "Benefits" page, the prominent medical plan title button sends users to an external website, requiring a second login and then manual navigation to a non-mobile-friendly PDF of their benefits. The actual information is located within the less obvious "Medical Plan Status" tab above, resulting in a frustrating and unintuitive experience.
In other cases, the app lacks features that would otherwise improve the usability of the app, like submitting claims.
Example: The absence of a manual claim submission feature in the app represents a major missed opportunity for user satisfaction. Though the app tracks provider-submitted claims, users are missing a core functionality they anticipate in a health insurance app. This becomes even more critical when competitors, like the UnitedHealthcare App, functionality.
Layout
The app suffers from poor information hierarchy and layout, making it difficult for users to navigate and distinguish different pieces of information and sections quickly. Additionally, UI redundancies lead to excessive text, which can distract users from achieving their objectives. There's generally an overuse of text throughout the app.
Similarly, the app often has long lists (e.g. coverage details) that make finding information more laborious than it needs to be.
Example: Instead of having the user toggle several layers of nested information, a global search could be integrated at the top to allow users to type in what they are looking for.
Navigation Structure
Navigation structure is not bad — it is simple and straightforward. However, there is room for improvement, as key tasks that users may be looking to accomplish are not accounted for in the navigation options (such as claims.)
Compatibility
The app is available on Android, iOS, and web. While accessible across platforms, the web app suffers from reliability issues, including login failures and occasional loading problems with features like provider details.
Differentiation
The Blue Care app goes beyond the basic features found in many other insurance apps, such as digital insurance cards, benefits information, or claims tracking. It distinguishes itself through functionality, allowing users to take health assessments that personalize the product and tailor the overall experience.
Calls to Action
Poor UI negatively impacts CTAs in the Blue Care App. Improved color usage could help by dividing sections, highlighting CTAs, or distinguishing elements to draw attention and encourage user action.
Example: The "Recommended for You" hero section in search results could be highlighted from the other search results via a colored fill background.
UnitedHealthcare App
Overview
United Healthcare’s mission is to “help people live healthier lives and make the health system work better for everyone,” and their app “United Healthcare” is an extension of that mission. It has a single product for its members to access their health information such as benefits, claims statuses, immunization records, as well as find care and fill prescriptions. It does well to innovate, like providing ways for users to spend in-app rewards, as well as integrating with users’ device exercise data.
Key Objectives
The United Healthcare app looks to provide easy access to members health insurance plan information, much like other companies in their market segment. They claim that “with the UnitedHealthcare app, having the whole family’s medical information in one place is easier than ever.” This means allowing users to primarily view their benefits, coverage details, claims statuses, and ID cards.
They also look to facilitate access to healthcare services, as well as provide important insight into the costs of them beforehand. With features like searching for in-network providers, cost estimates of services, the ability to manage prescriptions, and virtual care options, they give users the tools they need to do this.
Competitive Advantages
Financial Strength & Technology
As one of the largest healthcare companies in the United States, UnitedHealthcare has a significant market share and strong financial resources. This allows them to heavily invest in technologies like the United Healthcare app, which possesses some features that other competitors do not offer and has a much more user-friendly and fundamentally better design. Some key app feature advantages include:
- Activity-based rewards: Device health tracking integration for redeemable rewards (in-store, gym, utilities).
- Expanded provider information: Viewable reviews and ratings.
- Digital convenience: Add insurance card to Apple/Google Wallet, in-app bill payment, prescription price checks & refills.
- Account integration: HSA, FSA, and HRA information accessible.
Network Advantage
United Healthcare possesses a vast network of physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare providers, and therefore can provide extensive access to care for their members, who may find searching for care on the app easier because of this.
Overall Strategy
Overall, with the UnitedHealthcare app, the company aims to empower its members to take control of their healthcare by providing them with the information and tools they need, whenever and wherever they need them, as well as more effectively navigate the health system and save on care costs.
By providing users with this tool, it effectively acts as a means of mitigating poor patient experiences and cutting down on overall support needs, as users are equipped to self-service within the app.