Takeaways from RISE: Healthcare Topics on Everyone’s Mind in 2024

The RISE Medicare Marketing and Sales Summit is an annual event bringing together a mix of health plan marketers, salespeople, agents, brokers, field marketing organizations, marketing agencies, technology partners and third-party benefit and service vendors. Members of the Media Logic team were in attendance and reported several trends that were of great interest to attendees. 

The following are eight topics that continued bubbling up in conversations and sessions among this diverse set of attendees. 

1. The impact of the presidential election on next year’s Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) 

The presidential campaign and election fall squarely during AEP pre-heat and enrollment time. Medicare eligibles are already inundated with direct mail, television and digital advertisements during the fall and winter, and their attention will be even more divided with the addition of national and local political ads. Plus, election ‘noise’ and a glut of election dollars may make it challenging to use certain channels. 

2. The effect of new rules from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) 

Attendees discussed CMS’s recently enacted and proposed changes to broker commissions, management of supplemental benefits and prescription drug coverage, all of which would also have implications for marketing and communications. 

3. Demographics of and insights into current Medicare-eligible consumers 

The conference inspired conversations about consumer insights, and particularly about differences between trailing and leading Boomers and key segments of the population. In this constantly changing landscape, Media Logic remains committed to keeping our finger on the pulse of where consumers are at. See our recent surveys on our blog. 

4. The financial squeeze facing many health plans 

Many health plans are currently facing decreasing profit margins, leading conference attendees to wonder when health plans would start to scale back on popular benefits. With CMS’s changes also coming to supplemental benefits, this is a possibility we wouldn’t be surprised to see begin this year. 

5. Solutions to help marketers and salespeople get more results with reduced budgets 

With those shrinking profit margins, health plans are looking for ways to increase retention and enrollment while closely managing costs. Being aware of the return on marketing investment can help plans identify the avenues that are worth the cost and the places they could cut back on spending. 

6. The best strategies to effectively use the data payers have access to 

Making the most of data has become more and more important, especially with changes to third-party cookies, Facebook advertising tracking and online tracking by HIPAA-covered entities.  

These shifts have made it harder for health plans to use third-party data to target current members and prospects. That said, health plans have a wealth of first-party data to use, and this is a big opportunity if they use the data effectively. Conversations at the RISE Summit centered on how to use data to activate automation, segmentation and personalization to optimize marketing and communication efforts. 

7. How to maximize digital channels and online shopping 

RISE attendees showed a lot of interest in new technology that would further optimize digital channels and online shopping sales funnels. As we noticed in the Medicare.gov website revamp, payer and broker aggregate websites are being streamlined to make it easier for Medicare eligibles to learn about their options and sign up for a plan. 

8. CMS-compliant ways for payvider plans to use their provider channels to generate leads  

Payvider plans have been an interesting topic in the industry for a few years now (we discussed the trend a few times on our blog), and the question of payvider marketing is an important one. These plans have an opportunity to use their local advantage to compete with national carriers, working with provider partners to ensure patients get the Medicare coverage that fits their budget and delivers healthy outcomes. 

For more takeaways from RISE, stay tuned for a look at Media Logic’s presentation on payviders, originally shared at the conference, coming to our blog soon.  

Any questions? Reach out to Media Logic today.  

Tags: healthcare, healthcare marketing, Medicare, Medicare marketing, RISE Summit