The Benefits of Online Enrollment - chapters.cupahr.orgchapters.cupahr.org/.../2013/05/The-Benefits-of-Online-Enrollment.pdf · The Benefits of Online Enrollment April 12, 2013 Presented

Houchens Insurance Group 1750 Scottsville Road, Suite 4

Bowling Green, KY 42104 / P: 270.793.0367

Houchens Insurance Group 1750 Scottsville Rd., Suite 4 Bowling Green, KY 42104

The Benefits of Online

Enrollment

April 12, 2013

Presented By:

Adam Marley

[email protected]

(270) 467-1309

Houchens Insurance Group

mailto:[email protected]


Bowling Green, KY 42104 / P: 270.793.0367 2

About Us

Headquartered in Bowling Green, KY

5 Locations throughout Kentucky and Tennessee

Staff of 164+ employees handling

over $250 million in annual premiums

Full Range of Brokerage services include: Employee Benefits

Property & Casualty Financial & Retirement

Personal Lines

Provide access to virtually all insurance and

administration markets

Excel locally through community involvement and

position of leadership

Possess national presence and exposure through a

variety of prestigious memberships and

affiliations

Largest 100% employee-owned ESOP in the United

States

2012 Insurance Journal Ranked HIG 30th largest privately-held insurance brokerage in the United

States

Employee Benefits Areas of Specialization

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)

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



Universal Coverage: Individual Mandate Online Enrollment Systems Overview

What is Online Enrollment and Benefits Administration? 30,000 ft. overview

• Links employers, insurance carriers and payroll into one, user-

friendly 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



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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

Online Enrollment Systems Overview



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.

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Price/Features Continuum Enrollment Systems

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Custom Graphics/Videos

Robust/Custom Reporting

Integrated with Carriers/Payroll

Basic Enrollment Function

$1.00 PEPM $7.00 PEPM

Live, Licensed Customer Service

Communications and Fulfillment

Billing/ Admin

Enrollment Methods

Other Extension Services: Dependent Audits, Total Compensation Statements, etc.



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

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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

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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?

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What if an individual cannot afford to buy insurance? Benefits of Using Online Enrollment Systems

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



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

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Facilitate Open

Enrollment or On-going enrollments

Approximately

Upload Benefits Information and

Employee Census. Create User

Names/Passwords. Test feeds with carriers

and payroll systems.

Approximately

Choose a Technology vendor and request

initial setup and training

Approximately

Enrollment System Implementation Timeline

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

End-to-End Setup and Enrollment process tot take

between

depending on the group and the quality of the group’s data.

Business Day Lead Time

Weeks depending on group response

Typically a one to two week process, including testing time.



Enrollment Method Planning

• Self-Service

• Call Center

– Mandatory and Optional

• Enrollers

• Mix of any/all of the above

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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

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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

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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?

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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

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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

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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

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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 opt-outs

• Records “Accept/Decline” decisions

• Beneficiaries are updated annually

• Dependents are cleansed annually

• Addresses, emails and emergency contacts are accurate

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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.

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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)

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Conclusion

• Reviewed enrollment systems

– Benefits

– How to research

– How to prepare

– How to implement

Questions?

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Documents

The Benefits of Online Enrollment - chapters.cupahr.orgchapters.cupahr.org/.../2013/05/The-Benefits-of-Online-Enrollment.pdf · The Benefits of Online Enrollment April 12, 2013 Presented