Dallas, TX February 10, 2010 — HRAdvance, the standard in eligibility solutions, today released the results from client employee surveys, and those results are overwhelmingly positive. HRAdvance is committed to helping benefits professionals stay informed on the impact of dependent eligibility verification on employee relations and health plan cost containment. The de-identified data evaluated in the survey includes responses from calendar years 2008 and 2009.
More than 90 percent of employees understood the purpose of the audit and how it enables their employer to more effectively administer their health plan, and more than 80 percent indicated they were satisfied with the experience. “These results speak directly to the greatest concern of employers reluctant to initiate a dependent eligibility audit— adverse employee reaction. The results also indicate that it is possible to educate and involve employees in the practical requirements to maintain the fiscal health of their benefit plans” said Craig Firestone, President of HRAdvance. Dependent eligiblity audit employee survey results can be found on the HRAdvance website.
“Addressing concerns that an eligibility audit may impair the employer-employee relationship, we find that most often, the noise originates with those whose dependents are ineligible,” said Shae Lucabaugh, VP of Participant Services & Corporate Development for HRAdvance. “In reality, our clients indicate positive employee feedback is quite common. According to our client survey, 97 percent of clients responded that the employee feedback was constructive and helped the employer understand how the dependent eligibility audit was progressing. Clients commented that they were very satisfied with the feedback, or lack thereof, that they received from employees and that employee questions and concerns were accurately addressed on a timely basis.”
Plan sponsors should not expect these results as a matter of course. Their concern about employee reaction is justified. Historically, dependent eligibility reviews have been the source of controversy due to poorly designed or executed projects. When the employee’s service experience is poor, be it inaccurate or untimely guidance, audit projects prove especially challenging to the employee-employer relationship. Another significant challenge to avoid adverse employee reaction is achieving a high rate of participation in the audit. Many times the audit or the employee reaction has simply overwhelmed the plan sponsor or vendor they have chosen.
Since its inception, HRAdvance has been an advocate for an evidence-based corporate wide audit that utilizes proprietary software and a rules-based engine to alleviate the human error and delay, which often causes the friction during a dependent eligibility audit. Additionally, they employ and train customer care specialists who focus exclusively on supporting clients’ employees to make each experience as efficient and positive as possible.
“HRAdvance customer care specialists have a tremendous impact on the employees’ overall experience,” Lucabaugh said. “Our ultimate goal is to make this as simple and understandable as possible for employees and ensure all eligible dependents remain on the plan. Our customer care representatives carry that mission to their work every day.”
Whatever solution plan sponsors select, they should closely evaluate the support their employees will receive and the efforts expended to achieve high response rates” said Firestone. “The considerable savings to be obtained are possible without adverse effects on the employer-employee relationship” he concluded.
To learn more about HRAdvance and its eligibility solutions, including Plan-Smart™ and Plan-Guard™, please visit their website at www.plan-smart.com.
About HRAdvance:
HRAdvance was founded in 2004 with a narrow mission in mind: to provide HR and benefits professionals with best-in-class hosted solutions that can be deployed without capital expenditure or IT dependency. Its guiding principle is that employees are the most valuable asset of virtually every organization.
The company’s core competency is its Plan-Smart™ and Plan-Guard™ dependent eligibility audit and verification services. With more than 170 clients that range in size from 500 to more than 100,000 employee lives, HRAdvance is the best in class dependent eligibility audit solution. Its management competencies and healthcare focus reflect over 150 years of combined experience in developing automated human resource, benefits, administrative and financial solutions for government, public and private organizations. Visit www.hradvance.com to learn more.