Most people (72%) say they’re not confident in navigating their healthcare plan, according to a recent national poll from the PAN Foundation’s Center for Patient Research. So when patients hear they need surgery, they often don’t know where to start. At the same time, dealing with major medical news stirs up a lot of emotions. That’s why Lantern pairs each member on a specialty care journey with a dedicated Care Advocate.
The Care Advocate Role
Lantern employs 200+ care experts, who offer multilingual support 16 hours a day. Each member on a specialty care journey gets paired 1:1 with a Lantern Care Advocate, who provides personalized, comprehensive support each step of the way. These Care Advocates assist members by:
- Scheduling appointments
- Facilitating the transfer of medical records
- Coordinating post-operative care (in-person or digital PT)
- Booking travel for care
Care When You Need It Most
Unlike most healthcare communication, members aren’t left on hold when trying to call their Care Advocates. The average wait time to speak to a Care Advocate is less than 30 seconds 97% of the time. This allows us to be available when members need us most.
“A member informed me that she needed knee replacement surgery, and her traditional insurance was charging her an astounding amount of money that she did not have,” says Care Advocate Emiliano Vanegas. “As she continued to cry, I was able to inform her I could find her a doctor in our network and provide 100% coverage for her procedure.”
Vanegas guided this member through the entire surgical process, from consult to post-op.
“As I was saying goodbye, she informed me that without my help, she wouldn’t have been able to afford having this procedure and would be in excruciating pain,” Vanegas says.
A White-Glove Member Experience
Lantern members give Care Advocates a 95% member satisfaction rating.
Bert A., a Lantern member and 8th-grade school teacher, contacted Lantern for a second opinion on a surgery recommendation for his throat pain. He ended up needing a septoplasty, which was completely covered through his Lantern benefit.
“The Advocate who I worked with handled everything,” Bert says. “All she did was contact me to ask me where to get the information. She covered everything else. The next thing I got was an email that everything was set.”
Bert’s Care Advocate helped him every step of the way, scheduling appointments, booking travel and even checking in post-op.
“My Advocate was regularly checking in, was always kind and went ahead of me in terms of thinking about what needed to be done, what paperwork needed to be filled out and who had to be contacted,” Bert says. “Lantern has an appropriate name. It’s helping to light your way through the darkness of the normal healthcare and insurance journey these days.”
