An epic quest for prescription coverage

When planning a presentation on prescription coverage issues and gaps, it’s unusual to start by talking about a fantastical game involving wizards and magic wands. However, the Michigan Collaborative for Type 2 diabetes team wanted an out-of-the-ordinary experience to engage health care professionals who provide team-based diabetes care, while developing a deeper, more detailed view of barriers to coverage for patients.

With just 45 minutes to cover this topic at MCT2D’s regional meeting, the team felt a traditional presentation wouldn’t be engaging enough for participants or informative enough for MCT2D to gather the information they would need to shape their future work and solve these issues for Michigan patients. The answer? It was time to play a game!

Playing the game of coverage

The MCT2D team, took a creative leap and created Coverage Quest, a mythical game, with the goal of getting characters coverage for their particular prescription. Each game board, designed in-house by MCT2D design experts, featured a patient case with a character description, including diagnoses, lab results and current prescriptions. The pawns used to move across the gameboard were blue, orange and yellow sticky notes, each representing a different stage of the coverage process, which players would use to fill in the map on their board.

To start, players used the blue notes to write each step of the process that their clinic would normally do to begin to help get a patient’s medication covered. Next, using the orange sticky notes, they wrote each of the barriers, setbacks and challenges that they might encounter. At this point, there was a pause in gameplay so participants could discuss challenges.

Following the discussion, players used the yellow sticky notes to write best practices, tips, tools, technologies or other resources that helped them overcome barriers and make the coverage process easier and faster. Additionally, there were MCT2D tool stickers that players used to mark where resources from MCT2D could generally assist them. Once the game board was complete and the fictional patient could start their prescription, players placed a “Magic Wand” sticker to mark one part of this process they wanted to improve going forward.

Coverage Quest was developed by MCT2D team members Multimedia Design Project Manager, Larrea Young, and Informatics Design Lead Noa Kim. Kim stated, “Sometimes people need a shift in their environment and to do something unexpected. Our providers are coming to the meeting after a long day at their hospital or clinic. It's important that we make the most of that time to do something meaningful. We've heard directly from them: Coverage is their biggest challenge in providing excellent diabetes care."

Facilitating discussion and invaluable insight

This unique take on a coverage discussion was met with mostly positive reactions from attendees, who said they enjoyed the opportunity to discuss frustrations in helping patients get the medication they need. Many participants noted that they were hesitant to engage with the game at first but, in the end, said it provided helpful discussion points and tools that they’ll bring back to their practice.

Young noted that the discussion periods allowed participants to compare and contrast challenges with other providers and find solutions that work for them — all with fantasy music playing in the background, adding levity to a complex and challenging topic.

“Process mapping is a common quality improvement tool that we use to understand office processes and how to improve, but it can be boring. By applying a little bit of fantasy to quality improvement, the MCT2D team was able to unleash the creative thinking of our collaborative members,” said Dr. Lauren Oshman, MD, MPH, Director of MCT2D.

Following the meeting, MCT2D collected over 200 game boards, each containing valuable insight in to how each practice approaches prescription coverage. The team at MCT2D plans to use them to identify common barriers to coverage, glean insight in to where MCT2D participants utilize their tools, and compare and contrast workflows, allowing them to shape the future of their work to ensure better prescription coverage for Michigan patients.

There are no plans for the team at MCT2D to hold another Coverage Quest in the near future. However, the positive response from providers inspired them to continue thinking about creative ways to facilitate discussion and problem-solving with just a touch of magic.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network are nonprofit corporations and independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.