Success Story | Oklahoma Health Care Authority
A national model for Medicaid: How Oklahoma doubled enrollment with strategic SMS
OVERVIEW
Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) undertook a transformative initiative to modernize its Medicaid delivery system by adopting a managed care model, allowing members to choose their health and dental plans for the first time. To support this transition, OHCA launched the “Pick a Plan” campaign, a strategic initiative designed to educate members and drive critical plan selection. With help from Granicus’ Communications solution (govDelivery), OHCA achieved an astounding 20% active plan selection — exceeding the national benchmark and earning recognition as a model for Medicaid outreach.
SITUATION
As part of the transition from a fee-for-service model to a value-based managed care system branded as “SoonerSelect,” OHCA implemented a historic Medicaid delivery model transformation that required more than 560,000 members to actively choose their health and dental plans for the first time. This shift aimed to empower members to take a more active role in their health care decisions.
Historically, Medicaid populations have shown low response rates to outreach efforts. Fewer interactions meant fewer citizens getting the crucial care they need for their health. Members risked missing out on important plan-specific benefits by not actively choosing — if Medicaid members did not select a plan, they would be randomly assigned one.
OHCA faced a dual challenge: Educate a large and diverse member base about the new system and motivate them to take action within a limited time frame. With a national benchmark of 18% active plan selection, OHCA set an ambitious goal to exceed this figure through a four-month, cross-channel campaign.
SOLUTION
OHCA’s solution was a data-driven campaign centered around digital engagement. The “Pick a Plan” campaign uses Granicus’ communications capability to deliver personalized, multilingual messages across multiple channels.
With no extra funding allocated for the campaign, the team at OHCA relied strictly on the tools it knew would work. The effort came down to using channels the public is comfortable engaging with — specifically emails and text messages — to get their attention.
“One of the reasons we value Granicus so much is the incredible collaboration it enables between our state agencies,” said Laura Wilcox, senior director of communications at OHCA. “For example, because our agency is limited in how we can use text messaging due to HIPAA constraints, it’s not part of our package. However, we were able to borrow surplus messaging capacity from another agency at no cost because we’re all working within the same Granicus system. It’s a great example of how we can share resources, conduct joint research, and maximize efficiency across the board.”
Nearly one million emails were sent to members using Granicus, with messages tailored to their language preferences and enrollment status. In addition, more than 558,000 strategically timed SMS messages were sent in English and Spanish — one of which occurred just 10 days before the enrollment deadline to ensure maximum opportunity to act.
Wilcox added, “We saw an immediate, huge spike in enrollments following each SMS push. Then, in that final week of the campaign, we were able to take our active plan selection from about 10% to 20% — exceeding our campaign benchmark by more than 11,000 members.”
RESULTS
Even with a short timeframe and no additional budget, the campaign’s impact was profound — boasting a 20% active plan selection and exceeding OHCA’s goal by more than 11,000 members. Other notable results included:
Looking to the future, “This year, we wanted to do more targeted outreach to our tribal members, who are uniquely able to choose between a managed care plan or staying on the state-sponsored plan,” Wilcox said about OHCA’s strategy. “Thanks to the robust audience segmentation features in Granicus, we were able to launch a dedicated campaign before open enrollment that highlighted the specific benefits and considerations for tribal members. It allowed us to tailor our messaging in a way that respected their unique options and needs.”
In addition to the brag-worthy numerical results, Princeton University’s State Health & Value Strategies recognized OHCA’s campaign as a national model for Medicaid outreach. The “Pick a Plan” campaign stands as a landmark example of how government agencies can leverage technology and behavioral insights to drive meaningful engagement in public health initiatives.
Oklahoma Health Care Authority is a recipient of a 2024 Granicus Digital Government Award in the category of “Total Government Experience” for its “Pick a Plan” campaign.
