What do The Music Man and Star Ratings Have in Common?

In 2019, CMS boldly went where few government bureaucrats have ever ventured.  The government department in charge of determining bonuses for Medicare Advantage plans decided to upturn their conventional apple cart and overweight bonus calculations in favor of member experience.  Essentially, CMS has adopted the tried-and-true method of calculating consumer satisfaction with products and services.  It’s what most consumers refer to as the Net Promoter Score (NPS).

So how does one measure member satisfaction or better put, the experience of being insured by an MA Plan?  We at Healthrageous believe it’s all about making encounters friction-free.  Enrollment, engagement, filing grievances, changing home address or marital status, and all other administrative tasks are all opportunities to incite MA members to dust off their very best swear words.  Plans are inherently successful at generating enough member services friction to start a small forest fire and raise the frustration levels of the members they serve.

So where does the 1959 Meredith Wilson classic come in? The erstwhile Professor of Musicology, Harold Hill, had perfected a grift that had him fleeing small towns throughout the Midwest. He was selling whole communities, like River City, Iowa, on the parental value of creating a local marching band for the youngsters. Townsfolk paid good money in order to obtain an instrument and uniform for their loving child. The grift turns into a showdown in which Marian the Librarian, having succumbed to the charms of the Music Man, defends his gift to the town: an uplifting experience that settled old scores and brought everyone together with joy and civic pride.  Sure, he was a crook.  But Prof. Harold Hill had lifted the spirits of River City and had even cured her brother’s shyness.  He’d given the town one whole month of excitement and anticipation, like waiting for a Taylor Swift concert.  He successfully sold dreams to the people in the town and they were all much happier because of it.

At Healthrageous, we pride ourselves on making a senior’s interactions with us easy and friction-free.  Even persnickety seniors like Marian the Librarian’s stubborn Irish Mother, Mrs. Paroo.  We have no portals, apps to download, or other confounding navigation tests.  A simple SMS texting platform lets us right into the smartphone or tablet of Mrs. Paroo.  A week’s worth of meals arrive, per her order, and reside in her freezer until dinnertime.  And every meal is designed to be good for her Type 2 Diabetes or high blood pressure (ed: we’ve yet to cure stubbornness).  She doesn’t have to read labels and search for ingredients that her physician warned her to avoid.  Clean up requires opening your trashcan and tossing the carton from which you ate.  That’s an experience to rave about. And if your raves lead to member retention and growth, then an MA plan relying on Healthrageous is bound to improve its Star ratings. Click HERE to request more details.

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