The Overlooked Cost Of Workforce Turnover In Health Insurance Operations

The Digital Customer Experience For Health Insurance Plans Is Falling Short

According to the 2025 Healthcare Digital Experience Study from J.D. Power, health insurers' digital customer experience (CX) is under-delivering.

• Medicare Advantage apps scored 597 out of 1,000
• Commercial health plan apps scored 635
• By contrast, wealth management apps scored 794, P&C insurance apps 700, and auto financing apps 672

“Health insurance providers have a lot of work to do to close the gap to other industries…. Many plans are simply not delivering on those basics.”
— Eric McCready, Director of Digital Solutions, J.D. Power

The digital CX gaps are often treated as technology problems, but they are also execution problems. When members hit a wall in their digital experience, they don't blame the app. They blame the plan. And the frontline ends up managing the fallout.

When Digital Breaks, The Frontline Feels It First

Digital tools can’t deliver on their own. Members escalate when a health insurance portal is confusing, claim status is unclear, or a benefit explanation is lacking.

At that moment, your frontline becomes the product.

And, if the frontline team is stretched thin, recently onboarded, or constantly turning over, the customer experience will further degrade.

• Members get conflicting answers
• Wait times increase
• Simple issues become escalations

The result is a fragmented member experience due to failed handoffs between tools and people. Each missed connection compounds member frustration, especially when trust is already at risk.

Turnover In Health Insurance Operations Breaks Continuity — And Undermines CX

High attrition in health insurance operations unravels service consistency.

Experienced employees take institutional knowledge with them. New hires need ramp-up time. Supervisors juggle constant resets. The impact shows up fast:

• Resolutions slow down
• Messaging becomes inconsistent
• Compliance risks rise
• Member trust erodes

The issues caused by turnover magnify the friction already present in digital experiences. As a result, high attrition isn’t just expensive. It also weakens the continuity and responsiveness members expect.

Health Insurance Transformation Doesn’t Scale Without Stability

Frontline execution is where strategy becomes reality. Whether you streamline prior authorization processes, deploy AI, or rework service models, success depends on stable, capable teams.

But, when turnover is high, execution breaks down:

• Training becomes repetitive and resource-draining
• Institutional knowledge gets lost in constant handoffs
• Teams fatigue under shifting priorities and unclear ownership

Digital tools suffer, too. Even the best-designed systems rely on the frontline to guide, explain, and reinforce the experience. When that support is inconsistent, the member experience fractures.

Especially during times of transformation, you can’t build momentum if you're always starting over. Without the continuity of tenured employees, even the best initiatives stall out before they can scale.

What The Frontline Needs To Succeed

Frontline teams need the skills and structure to execute confidently and keep transformation and customer experience on track. They need:

• Clear roles and defined growth paths
• Leaders who can coach, not just escalate
• Training built around real systems and workflows
• Skills for the digital demands shaping health plans today and tomorrow

This is especially urgent for new frontline leaders, often promoted without support. Without structure, performance wobbles, turnover rises, and key initiatives stall. The ripple effects in CX are immediate, and even the best digital tools under-deliver, because the people behind them are constantly playing catch-up.

Health plans that invest in frontline clarity, coaching, and digital readiness see real gains. They reduce escalations, shorten time to productivity, and turn strategy into execution.

Workforce Strategy Is Operational Strategy

The digital experience is the front door, but frontline performance determines whether members stay.  When digital tools fall short, your people absorb the pressure. And when those teams aren’t stable or ready, member trust erodes fast.

Workforce strategy isn’t just an HR concern. It’s a critical input to operations, CX, and transformation.

Retention and readiness drive consistency, reduce rework, and make it possible to scale what works. The health plans seeing real results are investing in the frontline capabilities that turn strategy into measurable outcomes.

If you lead service delivery, operations, or member experience, this is yours to lead.

Ready to close the gap between strategy and execution with a frontline that’s ready to perform?

Pathstream partners with payer operations teams to deliver training and leadership development that reduces attrition, improves readiness, and supports transformation at scale. Learn how we can help →