A new era in cold-calling has dawned. And although this possible game-changing strategy involves just one company and has little to do with sales, its implication could be widespread.

The company: Equity Healthcare, a health services provider that manages plans for some 280,000 people.

The strategy: According to a recent piece in The Wall Street Journal, to reduce the number of cold calls to plan members reminding them to get regular check-ups and take other actions on behalf of their own health.

Equity Healthcare told The Journal that such calls just weren’t efficient. But, the callers found, a certain group did respond — people with chronic illnesses who had recently engaged in a health care activity, such as hospital visit.

Those are the folks that the cold callers will be calling going forward. The idea is that more targeted calls will result in better health for the least healthy but most responsive plan members, and that the calls will subsequently lead to better outcomes for the covered group.

But 280,000 is not a lot of members, you say? Equity Healthcare is owned by the New York City-based private equity firm Blackstone Group., which, in theory at least, has the clout to implement the strategy throughout its empire and, in so doing, could strongly influence other employers to do the same.

Other measures to be included in this new strategy, as outlined in The Journal article, include offering a concierge-type service to members who need help settling insurance disputes; expanding free weight-loss and smoking cessation programs; and helping members achieve other health objectives that, the company has found, members tend to engage in more frequently than other options.

Andreas Mang, Equity Healthcare's COO, told The Journal he hatched the idea several years ago after he reviewed recordings of cold calls to plan members, far too many of which did not result in the desired action.

Instant Insights /

Equity Healthcare to test new cold-calling strategy with members

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