There are a few different ways to administer an over the counter benefit for members of a health plan. With the goal of providing the members with the best possible products and service, a Over The Counter Catalog Program is the best choice for a comprehensive program that offers the best service to members. Here are a few of the reasons to offer a catalog program:
Home delivery
For those who are elderly, mobility can become a big obstacle even for routine trips out of the house to the grocery store. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, in 2012 there were over 250,000 seniors who were hospitalized with hip fractures. Hip fractures become even more dangerous for the elderly because often they may never full recover from a catastrophic fall. Having OTC products delivered directly to their home allows elderly people to stay inside and avoid going to the store when this may be difficult for them. The convenience of being able to shop from home with a Mail Order OTC Catalog Program is something that other types of programs do not offer. More and more people are choosing to shop online each year, and for the first time this year, more people shopped online on Black Friday than in stores.
More control over what members can buy
A catalog program allows the Health Plan to select every item that a member will be able to buy. The Health Plan is able to decide on individual products, not just product categories for the items that they would like to offer. This gives more control to the plan as to the products that they would like their members to receive and the benefit can be better tailored to a specific membership. With a focused product offering, members will be able to see just products that are eligible in the program and not products that they may not be able to use their benefit for. This helps to avoid member confusion and grievances.
No Administration Fees
A catalog program for OTC Benefit Solutions has no administration fees associated with the setup or ongoing maintenance of the OTC Benefit Program. There are no monthly charges for member usage and no initial setup fee to get started. This is great for Health Plans because more of their budget can go towards the products that members are receiving. A catalog program really is a comprehensive and cost effective option for administering an OTC Benefit Program to Medicare Advantage members.