Case study
How Aetna transformed member engagement with Motivational Interviewing
A breakthrough partnership with MI pioneer Dr. Kenneth Resnicow reshaped how Aetna communicates with members — shifting from scripted calls to meaningful, human-centered conversations.
- Sector
- Health plan
- Method
- Motivational Interviewing
- Partner
- Dr. Kenneth Resnicow
What changed, in numbers
- 53.1% → 76%
- Member engagement
- +43%
- Relative lift in engagement
- −55%
- Program dropouts
Enrollment climbed after care teams retrained in MI
The largest engagement gain in the program's history
Drop-offs cut by more than half
Source: Aetna Care Management & Disease Management programs, post-MI integration.
The challenge
Members were being talked at, not talked with.
Traditional disease-management programs across the industry were failing to truly engage members. Scripted, compliance-first coaching left people feeling unheard — and drove high dropout rates.
The care was well-intentioned. The delivery wasn’t landing. Aetna needed a way to make coaching feel like a real relationship, at the scale of an entire member population.
Aetna’s solution
A partnership with the pioneer of Motivational Interviewing.
Aetna partnered with Dr. Kenneth Resnicow, a global leader in Motivational Interviewing, to train its care teams in a new approach built on empathy, autonomy, and real dialogue.
“A highly personalized member experience with real conversations, not scripted interactions.”
On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate your medication adherence this week?
That took honesty — thank you. What’s made taking them feel hard lately?
Chief Science Officer, Chronilogix
Dr. Kenneth Resnicow
One of the world’s leading experts in Motivational Interviewing, whose work spans healthcare, behavior change, chronic illness, and health equity. His partnership with Aetna helped operationalize MI at scale — and set a national precedent for member-centered coaching.
What changed
MI rewired Aetna’s coaching model.
The same care teams, having the same calls — but with conversations built to do three things differently.
Strengthen intrinsic motivation
Conversations surface the member's own reasons for change instead of prescribing them.
Increase readiness for change
Coaching meets people where they are, moving them forward at a pace they own.
Build trust through collaboration
Guidance replaces persuasion, so members stay in the driver's seat of their care.
- Better adherence to care plans
- Improved productivity for plan sponsors
- Fewer disability claims
Why MI works
From telling people what to do to helping them discover why they want to.
Motivational Interviewing shifts the focus of every conversation. That shift is what produced Aetna’s numbers — and it’s what makes behavior change last.
- Higher participation
- More consistent behavior change
- Stronger long-term health outcomes
The method, productized
The method Aetna proved is the method inside Chronilogix.
We’ve translated Dr. Resnicow’s thirty years of Motivational Interviewing research into the AI that powers every Chronilogix conversation — so every member gets the same evidence-based coaching, 24/7, at a fraction of the cost of live care.