Louisiana Creates First-of-Its-Kind Medicaid Enrollment App
Published: December 04, 2019
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The Louisiana Department of Health has partnered with vendor MAXIMUS to create the Healthy Louisiana app. The app simplifies Medicaid enrollment by allowing eligible residents to compare health care plans and find doctors.
With the creation of the Healthy Louisiana app, the state has drastically modernized its Medicaid enrollment process. The app, a partnership between the Louisiana Department of Health (DOH) and vendor MAXIMUS, enables users to securely enroll in the program, compare health care plans, find nearby in-network doctors, and more. In fact, Medicaid-eligible Louisianans no longer have to deal with mailers, call centers, in-person visits, or navigating the DOH website to enroll.
According to the state, the Healthy Louisiana app is the first Medicaid enrollment app in the country. It was developed by MAXIMUS after the company was selected as Louisiana’s independent enrollment broker. Compatible with both Apple and Android devices, the app has already been downloaded about 40,000 times. It also seems to be well-received among users, as it carries a 4.5 rating on the Apple App Store.
“What the app does is allow members to have a digital means of enrollment that doesn’t require them to remember a Web address,” said DOH Medicaid Program Monitor Micah Caswell. “They download it on their phone, they can use it each time they need to make an enrollment choice.” Since the app’s launch, Caswell reports that digital enrollment has risen to account for about 30 percent of state Medicaid health plan choices.
Caswell also noted that the relationship between DOH and Maximus is a very close and collaborative one. Both parties are dedicated to improving the app and streamlining the Medicaid experience for beneficiaries. In fact, Healthy Louisiana is built on a flexible platform that allows for customization and additional features to be layered on throughout its lifespan. In March 2019, the app was updated to include a Spanish language option and geolocation services.
Ultimately, Healthy Louisiana simplifies the often arduous task of comparing differences between the state’s five managed care plans, making it much easier for users to find the best option to suit their needs.
“This pretty much continues a strategic initiative of the department and Medicaid to find as many different pathways as possible for us to be able to communicate with our Medicaid members,” said DOH spokesman Robert Johannessen. “Since we went to the managed care format, most of the health plan to member communications is handled by the [Managed Care Organizations], so it’s incumbent upon us as an agency to be able to identify ways that Medicaid can speak directly to our members. This is one of those tools that we now have.”