Word clean-up : win at work

I love when this happens. In my job, I champion simple, clear language. I build tools and platforms that are as easy as possible for people to use. It’s called content design. I partner with engineers and product designers to write the words and strategize the flow of information that will make the most sense to the different kinds of people using the tool.

Recently, I had a big win. I work for a health insurance company. It’s a B corp with passionate people who believe in their mission. It does a lot of good for its members, however, the website and app can be difficult to use and understand. For example, a member may need to see all their past claims, but they’re not sure where to look to get there. Or they need to find out if they can take a new medication that’s covered by insurance but can’t find the prior authorization form. I help solve those problems.

And one of those problems, we solved. Members weren’t understanding the terms on the website that were describing whether their costs were covered or not. We were calling it “non-preferred/preferred and non-participating/participating”which was super confusing. But it was a simple fix. Use “in-network” and “out-of-network” instead. Just like other insurance companies do and just like people do who are outside of the industry. It’s colloquial. It’s commonly understood.

There was push-back that this would require too many stakeholders to agree and wouldn’t be possible. But in the end, it was a few conversations and I had the go-ahead. The language will be updated across the website and app and members no longer have to be confused about what non-preferred providers and participating providers mean. It’s just, in-netowrk or out-of-network.

Content for the win.