The Benefits of Automation

The true cost of under-automation

Ryan Williams | direct (225) 663-8189 | fax (800) 611-2685 | ryan_williams@getworkforce.com Cost Savings From Overpayment of Premiums Prior to the deployment of benets automa=on, many organiza=ons lack the ability to easily iden=fy ineligible dependents or to cancel coverage for terminated employees or those who are ineligible for certain benets. Manual billing reconcilia=on processes are challenging, given the scarcity of accurate eligibility data and the moving target presented by numerous retro transac=ons each month. The result is overpayment of premiums.

Key Benefits
Error-Correc(on Labor Cost Avoided Manual data entry begets errors, lots of them. Not only do these errors result in denials of service and rejected claims, but also correc=ng the errors is costly.

Fewer Calls To HR Help Desk Employers have reported a reduc=on in calls to HR when Workforce moved informa=on on benet enrollment from paper to the benets Web site (as well as claims and customer service issues if Workforce handles benets). The Web channel can provide richer informa=on and cogni=ve aids for understanding benets, the process for selec=ng them, and eligibility. Fewer incoming calls for assistance result in reassignment of resources. Value of repor(ng Customers will see value in the form of less =me and eort to develop and generate various reports that Workforce provides, especially billing and management reports. Cost of preven(ng employee appeals It has been reported that benet automa=on, such as Workforce, has saved companies from legal proceedings in several employee appeal cases by clearly documen=ng the level of coverage and the people covered based on the employees enrollment selec=ons.

Overpayment of premiums for ineligible dependents: Paying for ineligible dependents costs many companies thousands of dollars per year. The system provided by Workforce is rules based and does not allow for the enrollment of ineligible dependents. Overpayment of premiums due to 6er/coverage discrepancies: Workforces system enforces Coverage Level or Tier rules. Rule viola=ons would include, for example, enrollment as Family when an employee has no dependents covered in the plan, which would result in the employer paying for more expensive coverage levels or =ers. Overpayment of premiums due to ineligible employees: The Workforce system enforces employee benet class eligibility rules to ensure that employees are not allowed to enroll in plans they are not eligible for. Cost saving can accrue when Workforce iden=es viola=ons of these rules. Overpayment of premiums due to terminated/canceled employees: Workforce can conduct the equivalent of a line-by-line audit of the insurance bill against Workforces enrollment data. Because Workforce automates the eligibility interface with the carriers, clients no longer have to rely on manual no=ca=on of cancella=ons to carriers. If an HR representa=ve forgets to no=fy the carrier and does not perform a line-by-line audit of the carrier bill each month, the employer ends up paying premiums for employees who should be cancelled. OVen employers who administer their benets manually in-house merely perform reasonability checks of the carrier invoices. Workforces EDI process with carriers eliminates this issue on the front end, and the premium repor=ng/ reconcilia=on services act as a second check on the back end.

Time saved by employees Companies have varying degrees of acceptance for quan=fying the value of employees =me for on boarding, benets enrollment, benets inquiry, address changes, and the many transac=ons and inquiries associated with benets. Yet by moving to employee self-service, employees save =me when they get through enrollment faster and when they get answers faster to their benet coverage ques=ons.

Where customer service and insurance meet.