Plan Designs With Flexibility and Customization for You

Plan Design

When you consider the increasing diversity of today’s workforce, the need for flexibility in employee health benefit plan design has never been greater. Self-funding allows the greatest degree of plan customization and cost control possible. Not only can we use plan design to help our clients meet the needs of a changing workforce, but we can monitor use of medical services and empower employees to accept more responsibility for their own health and well being.

BPA works closely with each self-funded client to help determine the best plan of benefits, from deductibles and coinsurance to wellness and utilization incentives. ERISA also allows self-funded plans to avoid many costly state-mandated benefits, if they choose to do so. While our new healthcare reform laws will continue to impact plan designs, self-funding gives employers the flexibility to determine the benefits that can best meet the needs of their company and their employees.

As we adjudicate self-funded claims, we collect a tremendous amount of data that can be used to provide comprehensive benefit and utilization reports. These reports provide a road map to help our clients continually improve their benefit plan and control future costs. That is truly what managing health benefits is all about.

Should Your Plan Stay Grandfathered?

BPA will begin the plan design process by reviewing the current plan of benefits and the resulting claims experience or premium history from approximately the last three years. Once we understand where your healthcare dollars have gone, we recommend alternatives based on experience and predictive modeling. This process is ongoing and focuses on providing benefits your employees need while controlling plan costs.

As the new healthcare reform law continues to be phased in, it will become important to determine whether keeping your plan “grandfathered” is in your company’s best interests. While the “grandfathered” status may help avoid certain disclosure and recordkeeping requirements going forward, avoiding plan design changes may have a far greater negative impact on your plan. As the needs of your group and the conditions impacting your bottom line continue to change, so can your self-funded plan. This is an advantage you simply do not find with traditional health insurance plans and one we can help you maximize as you adjust to the requirements of the new healthcare reform law.

For more information on our plan design services, or on how the new Healthcare Reform law may impact your health plan, simply call us or send us an e-mail today.