The Benefits of Online Enrollment April 12, 2013 Presented By: Adam Marley amarley@isbgky.com (270) 467-1309 1750 Scottsville Rd., Suite 4 Bowling Green, KY 42104
About Us Employee Benefits Areas of Specialization Headquartered in Bowling Green, KY 5 Locations throughout Kentucky and Tennessee Staff of 164+ employees handling over $250 million in annual premiums Medical Plans Self-Insured Plans Fully-Insured Plans Contingent Premium Plans Captive Programs High-Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs) Health Savings Accounts Health Reimbursement Accounts Limited Medical Plans (Mini Med Plans) Full Range of Brokerage services include: Employee Benefits Property & Casualty Financial & Retirement Personal Lines Possess national presence and exposure through a variety of prestigious memberships and affiliations Provide access to virtually all insurance and administration markets Largest 100% employeeowned ESOP in the United States Excel locally through community involvement and position of leadership 2012 Insurance Journal Ranked HIG 30 th largest privately-held insurance brokerage in the United States Other Employee Benefits Plans Flexible Spending Accounts Wellness Programs Dental Plans Vision Plans Short-Term Disability Long-Term Disability Life/AD&D Long Term Care Supplemental Coverages (cancer, accident,etc. ) Section 125 Plans Travel Accident Special Risk Coverage Group Auto Group Legal 2
Online Universal Enrollment Coverage: Individual Systems Overview Mandate What is Online Enrollment and Benefits Administration? 30,000 ft. overview Links employers, insurance carriers and payroll into one, userfriendly platform Provides access for employees to enroll in benefits through a secure website or portal Employees see personalized coverage with customized rates and benefits Each employee has a unique user ID and password Data is electronically delivered to insurance carriers via EDI feeds, updating benefits in real-time 3
Online Enrollment Systems Overview Each enrollment and benefits administration system has two sides: Employee Enrollment- benefit enrollment occurs once per year, or when qualifying life events occur. Additional features such as videos, informative documents, and company messaging may also be included Enhances Communication to All Staff Allows a new medium to deliver important messages Creativity is welcome HR Management- Human Resources may send information to carriers, change employee benefit or demographic information, unlock employees for changes, and create valuable reports in seconds One centralized system Carriers disable online changes, so the enrollment system is the sole source of input Saves time and resources 4
Phases of Implementing an Enrollment System Phase 1: Research Systems and find your organization s best fit. Phase 2: Gain buy-in from stakeholders that going electronic is the way to go Phase 3: Project Management- let everyone know what their role is in implementing the system and how they will benefit Phase 4: Plan for implementation. Know the timeline, have a strategy and set goals Phase 5: Continue to improve and find new ways to use the enrollment system. Learn the reporting features. 5
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Price/Features Continuum Enrollment Systems Integrated with Carriers/Payroll Enrollment Methods Custom Graphics/Videos Communications and Fulfillment $1.00 PEPM $7.00 PEPM Basic Enrollment Function Robust/Custom Reporting Billing/ Admin Live, Licensed Customer Service Other Extension Services: Dependent Audits, Total Compensation Statements, etc. 7
New Trends and Capabilities PPACA- Look-back periods, eligibility, admin periods Defined Contribution Individualized Premiums Total Compensation Statements Private Exchanges Plan Expense Forecasting Personalized Medical Expense Forecasting Dependent Audits 8
Execute Your Search Request demos from as many enrollment companies as you wish Have a vision for what you want out of the enrollment system Set up a template to evaluate each system Recency bias Presentations start run together 9
Things to Consider In Your Search Functionality Are we comfortable operating the system? Price What is our target budget? Level of Service Will we need a lot of service? Can our own IT department help? 10
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Benefits What if an of Using individual Online cannot Enrollment afford to Systems buy insurance? Frees time for Human Resources Staff Reduces paper and mail Records both positive and negative enrollment decisions Eliminates human-error in understanding handwriting on paper forms Synchronizes data between company payroll and insurance carriers (Including Banner) Eliminates ineligible dependents who may be on the plan (Dependent Audits) Cleans-up employee demographic information Helps employees better understand their benefits Robust and Customized Reporting- Generate Self-Bills in seconds Saves time in the enrollment process (complete demographic information only once) Makes annual benefits enrollment an efficient process Easily access dependent and beneficiary information Provides year-round self-service access eliminating time-consuming calls to HR 12
Benefits of Enrollment Systems to Management Provide greater transparency into costs Run financial reports based on real-time participation, trends, etc. Provides the ability to interface with claims data Ease the burden of moving insurance carriers Data for quoting is readily available (including claims with some systems) Change carriers and rates easily within the enrollment system Improve response time to changing legislation with Health Care Reform Update premiums, plan types, funding models, and more with relative ease Effectively communicate to employees through branded online portals 13
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Enrollment System Implementation Timeline Step 1 Choose a Technology vendor and request initial setup and training Approximately Business Day Lead Time Step 2 Upload Benefits Information and Employee Census. Create User Names/Passwords. Test feeds with carriers and payroll systems. Approximately Weeks depending on group response Step 3 Facilitate Open Enrollment or On-going enrollments Approximately Typically a one to two week process, including testing time. End-to-End Setup and Enrollment process tot take between depending on the group and the quality of the group s data.
Enrollment Method Planning Self-Service Call Center Mandatory and Optional Enrollers Mix of any/all of the above 16
Keys to Success Capitalize on the Investment Name a champion on your team Serves as the resident expert on the system and communicates back with the vendor Attends training, watches the webinars, reads the studies and attends all meetings provided by the vendor This person knows he or she is the champion Any system takes people and time to make it a successful tool 17
Coordination with Current Carriers Let your carriers (both core and voluntary) know your interest in systems This can dramatically change cost Lowers administrative burden for carriers as well Make sure your enrollment vendor supports your carriers Implementation time varies by carrier 18
Keys to Success Create a responsibilities matrix Includes Internal champions Management (decision-makers) Contacts at the technology vendors Track progress regularly Plan for the following: Understanding the HR Side (reporting, unlocking records, etc.) Building products Checking rates and payroll Importing census Customization of Platform Communications Planning Do we want a call center to assist? 19
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Implementation Timeline-Communications Benefit Booklets Introduce a changing process Discuss the foreseen benefits Any changes in coverage highlighted Communications Strategy Leading up to Open Enrollment Understand your mediums and communication culture Methods Tone to Staff Reminders Day Before Weekly Last Chance Reminders Individualized messages 21
Keys to Success Start Mid-Year If open enrollment is for 1/1 effective dates, start enrollments much earlier Use New Hire enrollments to start-out They are a clean-slate and have no reference to the change that is taking place Give the system time to work out bugs Allows HR to get comfortable with the processes and technology 22
Keys to Success Communication is key If you think all employees/staff know what to do, tell them two more times A message must be seen 19 times to set-in (this is shockingly true) Set and agree upon a communications strategy and timeline about Open Enrollment Emails Benefit booklets Texts, Voicemails Break-room fliers Plan your enrollment window Sometimes shorter is better 23
Keys to Success Can we make online enrollment mandatory? The tone of communications is much different Makes online enrollment a term of employment This drives clean data Drives active decision making versus passive optouts Records Accept/Decline decisions Beneficiaries are updated annually Dependents are cleansed annually Addresses, emails and emergency contacts are accurate 24
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Keys to Success Set Measurable Goals for the Enrollment Tool Log-in rates (80% is a great target for a first year) Surveys to staff Do you understand your benefits better? Billing Accuracy Ineligible dependents removed Pieces of data cleansed (addresses, beneficiaries, etc.) Boards love data. Being able to show a return on the investment will keep everyone happy. 26
Why Having a Benefits Enrollment System is Key In a changing environment, the ability to respond timely is key: Defined Contribution Individualized Premiums Look-back and Administrative periods (artificial turn-over) Affordability tests More plan options based on the metallurgic scale (Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum) Voluntary Benefits will grow in popularity (more billing coordination for HR) 27
Conclusion Reviewed enrollment systems Benefits How to research How to prepare How to implement Questions? 28