DO YOU WORK WITH OUR CLIENT’S [PAYROLL / VENDOR / CARRIER]?

If we had a dime for every time we were asked this…

It’s the most common question we get during sales inquiries or on RFPs.  Obviously, it’s an important question but it’s not quite the right question. 

Anyone in our industry needs to be able to work with other systems.  That is core to what we do.  Benelogic may look like a front-end enrollment system for a few weeks of the year, but the rest of time we are focused on data maintenance and data transactions. 

HIPAA standards helped ensure that most of us work together in a common layout to the objective of getting the right data from point A to point B.  However, it only tells part of the story.  The better question is “HOW do you work with our client’s payroll/vendor/carrier?”

Here’s why the HOW matters. 

Merely sending a data file to another company doesn’t ensure it is processed correctly.  The HOW of the interaction determines the effectiveness of the data exchange.  Benelogic’s approach is a bit unique in the industry because early on we figured out the start to a good relationship was asking “What do you want/need?” 

It’s shocking how few businesses ask. HIPAA-compliant layouts turned some of the bigger businesses into the equivalent of a playground bully.  They know that carriers must accept HIPAA-compliant layouts.  It is the fastest and cheapest solution – to throw a one-size fits all solution to every vendor.  It pushes a lot of the burden on the vendor who frankly isn’t always good at doing the additional data transformations they need to get the data into their back-end legacy systems. 

Benelogic starts by asking what the carrier really wants – because we’ve made it part of our business to get the right data to the right people, at the right time, in the right way.  It’s what we do.  We naturally have more experience with data transformations AND it allows us to control /see the information that’s going over to a carrier/vendor. 

Going one step further, we always seek feedback.  And when we get that feedback, usually in the form of a discrepancy report, we don’t just file it away.  We have a team of people dedicated to reviewing and working these discrepancies which, if you’ve worked in the industry for any length of time, are usually the “trouble” accounts that cause noise, phone calls, and disruptions in service. 

We don’t shame the carrier for it or berate them.  We understand that data discrepancies happen when end points apply their own business rules.  Benelogic seeks to understand the differences to try to align the data better over time.

When we say we are “carrier agnostic”, it really means that you can place your client with any vendor/carrier that best meets their needs.  We will reach out and do our very best to befriend them, so the entire process runs smoothly.