Press Release

Health plan delivers personalized automated phone calls providing influenza education and encouragement to obtain the flu shot to nearly 30,000 members.

Burlington, Massachusetts - Silverlink Communications, healthcare’s leading provider of automated interactive phone calls today announced that Cariten Healthcare, a Knoxville based health plan providing services for over half a million people, is using Silverlink’s services to help manage member relationships.  This fall Cariten worked with Silverlink to deliver personalized automated phone calls providing education about influenza and encouraging recipients to obtain a flu shot to nearly 30,000 of its Cariten Senior Health members.

"Cariten is constantly exploring new ways to ensure quality healthcare for our members while maintaining affordable premiums," said Lance Hunsinger, Cariten president and CEO. "Silverlink calls allow us to communicate with our members in a really personalized way without incurring the costs associated with hiring and training additional customer service representatives.  We were very pleased with the results of the flu shot reminder program.  Nearly half the Medicare members we reached out to listened to the entire call and we were actually quite surprised when several  members called us back just to say 'thank you' for sending the automated reminder.  I think programs like this can do a lot to let people know that we’re approaching their health coverage in a holistic way – that we’re thinking about and doing more than just processing their claims."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that flu epidemics are associated with approximately 36,000 deaths per year in the United States.  While rates of infection are highest among children, rates of serious illness and death are highest among seniors.   The CDC recommends all seniors be vaccinated and acknowledges that reminder programs are an effective way to improve vaccination levels.  

Silverlink worked with several customers this fall to deploy flu shot reminder programs.  As part of its Flu Shot Solution, Silverlink provides customizable call script templates which include evidence based information about influenza and the flu shot.  The programs have been extremely successful with up to 65% of recipients actually taking action to obtain a flu shot after receiving the call.

 “We’ve been really pleased with the results our customers have achieved with their flu shot reminder programs” comments Stan Nowak, Silverlink president and CEO, “Flu shot reminders are not only an effective way to help keep members healthy through the winter, but they’re also an opportunity for health plans to reach out and have a positive interaction with their members.  Cariten’s flu shot program was a great illustration of a plan using communication as a way to enhance their relationships with senior members - relationships that are critically important especially now during Medicare open enrollment.  These kinds of calls really are appreciated by the people who receive them.”