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Improving Member Satisfaction

Members are surveyed annually regarding their satisfaction with behavioral health services. UPMC Health Plan Behavioral Health Services uses the Experience of Care and Health Outcomes (ECHO) Survey. Survey results based on care received in 2004 show that members are highly satisfied with:

• Practitioners listening carefully to them
• Practitioners explaining things in a way they can understand
• Practitioners showing respect for what they have to say
• Practitioners spending enough time with them
• Being involved as much as they want in their treatment Other areas in which our members reported higher satisfaction than the national average include:
• Being given as much information as the member wanted about how to manage their condition
• Overall rating of counseling or treatment
• Being aware that they could refuse a specific type of medicine or treatment

Based on the annual survey results, UPMC Health Plan Behavioral Health Services identifies areas for improvement to increase member satisfaction ratings. The following areas for improvement were chosen:

• Access to routine and urgent treatment
• Being informed about self help or support groups
• Getting the help needed when calling Customer Service

UPMC Health Plan and UPMC Health Plan Behavioral Health Services are working together to improve the care and services provided to our members in these areas. Activities currently being implemented to address these areas include:

• Verifying provider data to ensure that accurate information is given during the referral process
• Distributing the access standards to practitioners semi-annually via newsletters as well as Community Care's website
• Posting an updated behavioral health resource (self-help) guide on our provider and member websites, as well as on UPMC Health Plan's website
• Promoting recovery principles to practitioners and members through trainings and conferences
• Increasing the frequency of audits of Customer Service staff
• Implementing a more intensive new employee orientation for Customer Service staff

Please note that the member satisfaction survey is distributed to a sample of the membership annually. If you receive a survey, please complete it. Your feedback is important to efforts to improve behavioral health services.

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