Ogden Benefits Administration (OBA), Employee Benefit Concepts (EBC), and Variable Protection Administrators (VPA) have strived to always provide our brokers cutting edge ideas and services. To mitigate the rapid increase in health insurance premiums, we have had to be creative in order to stay ahead of the hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and other providers. With the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), all aspects of health insurance and the deliverance of benefits have changed.
In an effort to stay ahead of the curve and to continue to offer our brokers innovative solutions, we are proud to announce that we have merged with Group Management Services (GMS). The deal will close October 1st. At that time, we also will transition to a single name for all current clients, brokers and business going forward. That name will be GMS TPA Services.
The driving force behind this decision is to offer new and better services. The immediate benefit to our brokers and clients will include the following:
Group Captive Management – In January of this year, we helped GMS set up their own captive, GCM. It has been extremely successful in helping transition their PEO clients to self funded. GCM assumes a majority of the risk allowing us to be more aggressive and to work with clients to maintain affordable health plans. With the substantial changes coming in the fully insured market, we felt these risk capacities were essential in serving our brokers and mutual clients with continued opportunities for new business. We also write Workers Comp in non exclusive states.
HealthX – The Employee and Provider backbone of our website is being replaced by HealthX. This is the portion of our site that displays plan and claim information. HealthX is currently used by 12 Million members, 425,000 Providers, and 150 HealthCare Payers. This should be live by October 1st. Additional web enhancements are being worked on to include a robust mobile/Smart Phone application.
RedCard – Delivering efficient benefits starts with a good ID card. Starting with December and January business, we will be rolling out a new ID Card from RedCard. Copies of ID cards will be scanned and made available over the new HealthX website. We will also be transitioning to a new and easier-to-read EOB around the first of the year.
Professional Employer Organization (PEO) – GMS is the largest PEO in Ohio providing Risk Management, Payroll, HR, Benefits, and Wellness capabilities to employers. They have offices in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati and service over 600 clients encompassing 16,000+ employees in 48 states. I have worked with them as their benefits third-party administrator for over 3 years and GMS constantly works to provide creative, long-term solutions in order to decrease the costs associated with key components of doing business such as benefits and risk management, while providing increased value and services.
New Business Opportunities – ACA (Affordable Care Act) is changing health insurance, leaving many brokers to wonder what opportunities they have moving forward. In addition to being able to earn full commissions on groups sold with GCM, we also will be paying broker commissions on PEO services. This clearly opens new opportunities for brokers moving forward.
Staffing – Our new TPA formed with the combination of our staff along with that of GMS is going to be considerably larger than OBA/VPA/EBC. In addition to myself, we will have an Accounting Department with a CFO and staff of 4, a Claims Department with 5 Examiners, 4 people in Eligibility, 4 Account Managers, 2 Renewal Coordinators, 2 New Account Coordinators, 2 IT staff, 3 Customer Service Representatives including an RX Specialist, and a Wellness Department.
With the close of the deal, we will be relocating our Hudson office to Richfield. We expect this to happen by November 1st. For the time being, all existing phone numbers and email addresses will remain the same. A unified contact sheet will be sent to all brokers and clients in October with new numbers and email addresses.
A version of this letter will be sent to all clients with their October bill, on 9/24.
I hope to get out to see all of you and to discuss these exciting new opportunities in the next couple of months. In the mean time, please call with any questions or prospects.
Nate Ogden
714-442-8120
