Where in the World is HIU?
On a recent trip to Bora Bora with his lovely wife Wendy, Jim Deese of
Greensboro, NC, found time to enjoy the March issue of HIU.
Accurate
Many TPAs are struggling as they are pressed to add more services to remain
competitive. These services include FSAs, HRAs, HSAs, COBRA, FMLA, ERISA,
retiree billing, debit cards, payroll cards, sole-proprietor 105 plans and more.
These services require many TPAs to employ trained experts who can answer
customer questions or fill their requests. To train and educate staff to be knowledgeable regarding every exception and regulation is costly and inefficient.
A “context-based workflow system” is the solution for this complexity in a
service-oriented industry. Context-based workflow identifies who you are, what
product you are contracted in, what the nature of your question/request is, and
what channel have you used to send your communication. This type of service
model can be implemented within a call-flow or a workflow.
When a caller is asked to place his identification number into a phone system,
a centralized database technology will identify the caller and the related product
line. This information will enable the call-flow to route the caller to the appropriate service expert, who will handle the call effectively, quickly and accurately.
Call-flow is just one example of a contextualization system that may be applied to Web chat, Web forms, text messaging, faxes, e-mail, snail mail and all
other methods of communication. Using a context-based work flow enables a
TPA to serve brokers, client contacts or participants in a timely manner with the
appropriate level of expertise.
Accessible
Customers want to be able to access their account balance and view claims activity and debit-card denials when they don’t have access to a computer. Text
messaging provides a convenient and fast way to give them this information
without access to the TPA’s website. Simply text a few characters (for example,
BAL for balance requests or CLAIM for claims information) to a five-digit text
