It is important to keep Medicare members engaged in a healthy lifestyle because they are more susceptible to disease due to their age. Keeping Medicare members healthy lowers costs for Medicare Payers and it is crucial for Accountable Care Organizations because they are rated on their readmittance and patient health.
For Medicare Payers and Accountable Care Organizations, this means a critical investment in promoting the importance and long-term benefits of a healthy lifestyle. For many organizations, this may also mean helping members overcome common challenges and barriers to incentivize healthy living and comply with the recommendations of healthcare professionals.
Building a foundation for a healthy lifestyle
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is important at any age regardless of overall health. For Medicare patients, a healthy lifestyle can help members improve their overall quality of life by maintaining a strong immune system, even if they live with chronic conditions. However, building a healthy lifestyle may not always be easy.
There are many challenges Medicare members can face on the road to building a healthy life as they age or manage complex health issues. Some of these challenges include:
- The COVID-19 pandemic - While the last year-plus has been challenging for everyone, for Medicare patients, it may have meant putting off critical preventative care appointments with doctors, which can lead to diminished general health maintenance. The pandemic has also created a significant measure of fear and anxiety around simple but important tasks that support healthy living, like going to the grocery store to buy healthy, whole foods and going to the pharmacy to refill prescriptions. Providing rewards to services that can bring healthy, nutritious meals to patients’ doors, like Home Chef gift cards are a great way to set patients up for success in overcoming pandemic anxiety.
- Transportation - For Medicare patients, they face limited means of transportation, either due to a lack of private transit or limited public transit options in their area. Lack of transit makes simple tasks out of the home more complicated, requiring significant planning and plenty of room for those plans to fall apart for one reason or another. Pointing patients toward resources to get more household items delivered directly to their door can simplify simple tasks and mitigate the risk of plans changing or falling apart, leaving the patient with no options to get the items they need.
- Health Circumstances - Medicare members in ailing health may not recognize the importance of building a healthy lifestyle. However, basic components of healthy living like eating whole foods, creating nourishing meals, and exercising or moving to their ability can help longevity and improve their immediate condition. Building a base of education on the importance of these issues is key to starting to change behavior and move patients toward healthier living.
Educating members on the value of overcoming these challenges and the barriers to a healthy lifestyle is key to maintaining an engaged member population. Education around topics like these provide ways for Payer and Accountable Care Organizations to reach out to patients proactively and build relationships and trust based on a common goal. Additionally, adding a gift card or eGift card rewards and incentives to these types of educational initiatives not only encourages patients to live a healthy lifestyle but can help build patient accountability and increase their involvement in managing their own healthcare either overtime or as they contend with a specific obstacle like those mentioned above.
Use Home Chef gift cards to promote healthy eating to Medicare patients
Gift cards are an easy way to deliver rewards and incentives to promote a healthy lifestyle. Gift cards can be easily delivered either physically or digitally and offer a variety of denominations that can fit any program budget.
Providing gift cards to brands like Home Chef is a great way to easily deliver meaningful, convenient incentives and rewards to Medicare patients. Home Chef delivers fresh pre-portioned ingredients directly to your door with easy to follow recipes to fit any lifestyle, as well as oven-ready options for easy no-prep meals. Home Chef’s options can assist Medicare patients in overcoming the challenges of building a healthy lifestyle by:
- Delivering meals straight to their door, allowing patients to avoid any pandemic anxiety or transportation challenges
- Home Chef delivers healthy, whole foods in both their meal kits and oven-ready options that nourish members and ensure they have a varied, balanced diet
Home Chef also has dietary accommodations with their weekly recipe rotations so patients can find a meal that works best for their skill level and is also compatible with their dietary restrictions.
Having access to consistent, healthy meal options is a foundational component to a healthy lifestyle. Home Chef can be a great first step for a Medicare patient to take on their way to healthy living. Providing gift cards to brands like Home Chef can be a compelling way for organizations that serve Medicare patients to begin to engage and initiate a campaign around the importance of healthy living.
Changing habits and behaviors within the Medicare population takes much more effort than simply rewarding someone with cash for taking action. GiftCard Partners works closely with organizations to identify and match the best gift card incentives for Medicare programs.
Register to purchase discounted Home Chef gift cards in bulk that will keep your Medicare patients healthy!
