Satisfying Customers One Success At A Time
Contact UsCOMPLEX PLAN STRUCTURE
CHALLENGE
A global leader in the development and manufacture of automotive safety systems came to BOS for assistance. The company is a conglomeration of many different companies that have merged over the years, some no longer operating as separate business units. As a result, the company provides a multitude of plans. It needed a business partner that could organize the information on each plan, establish corrected databases, organize the groups into the proper accounting structures and administer the benefits correctly for each population. In addition, the company has a number of collectively bargained groups where litigation dictated unique administrative processes. Lastly, there were paper files that needed to be warehoused and made available for pension calculations.
SOLUTION
BOS established a dedicated team that put a plan in motion to transition responsibilities. This team catalogued each plan to be administered. Then they gathered eligibility from the pension database, health care databases and payroll records. The data was then audited, discrepancies reconciled and a new database assembled. The data was coded by necessary accounting structures, actuarial liabilities and vendor reporting. It was also formatted to meet the specific requirements of the company’s data warehouse vendor.
BOS worked with the company to develop communication materials explaining the change in administration and notified all active and retired participants of the new service contacts. In some cases, BOS representatives met at major plant locations to outline the program and address any participant’s questions or concerns. BOS assumed responsibility for warehousing and manifesting all the paper files that needed to be kept as a result of pension calculation requirements.
RESULTS
Today, BOS seamlessly administers all the plans with each former or current population assigned to separate units. BOS currently operates six different toll-free numbers which allows each unique group to be answered by its name and affiliation. Due to participant’s concerns being accurately and sensitively addressed, the company receives virtually no phone calls or other contact from participants, union representatives, relatives or attorneys.
BOS has won praise from the company’s vendors for the accuracy of its data feeds. BOS has also been recognized by the company’s IT department based upon our ability to quickly and accurately customize data transfers to meet client and vendor requirements.
SHORT IMPLEMENTATION TIME
CHALLENGE
A Tier 1 automotive supplier contacted BOS because its current outsourcing vendor could not effectively handle some of its most complex union plans. These plans involved extended benefit provisions in the event of layoff that had to be calculated based on years of service, COBRA coordination and call-back rights. In addition, each plan (medical, dental, etc.) had different eligibility waiting periods and different extended benefit provisions. The company was also facing union grievances over the failure to provide accurate and timely eligibility management. It needed an organization with the sophistication and flexibility to administer these complex plans and to implement them in a tight timeframe to meet open enrollment deadlines
SOLUTION
BOS immediately established a dedicated team that put a plan in motion to fully transition the responsibilities. The IT programmers on the team developed custom databases and revisions to our computer systems to track historical seniority data and perform custom calculations as to eligibility for each bargaining group. The account managers on the team met with union representatives to address administration issues and commit to timeframes for completion that prevented collective bargaining grievances. In a matter of weeks, BOS had audited and reconciled the databases, produced all the required vendor and internal payroll feeds and conducted a successful open enrollment. BOS also established protocols with an associated company to manage call-back situations ensuring that participants had a seamless transfer of coverage.
RESULTS
Today, BOS administers all the health and welfare benefit programs for this company. This includes all the hourly participants involving 18 different bargaining group plans using paper forms, salaried participants using a custom website of the company’s design, FSA, HRA and HSA administration and COBRA/HIPAA administration. As part of the basic administration, BOS provides claim advocacy services, reconciles vendor eligibility and conducts dependent eligibility audits. The growth of the relationship speaks to BOS’s performance on the account and the trust built based upon excellence in service and a proven track record of meeting commitments made to the company.
TESTIMONIALS
“BOS has been our vendor from their inception. They handle our most complex plans with a seemingly infinite amount of patience and professionalism. We get glowing reports from our location HR managers, participants and vendors on their performance.”
Steve Kiwicz
“Benefit Outsourcing Solutions has and continues to be a vendor partner who continually exceeds expectations, thinks outside of the normal project scope and truly operates as an extension of our HR department. They turn projects around quickly and accurately.”
Patrick Carr
“BOS handles our plan administration efficiently and professionally. I don’t know how they do it, but we never hear anything but raves about their service from our participants. Also, in all the years they have worked for us, we have never had an out-of-scope fee.”
Susan Smith
“Great news! We have worked with BOS on another client and the partnership is wonderful!”
Medical Carrier
“Benefit Outsourcing Solutions understood the urgency of the project, how to get it done quickly and effectively, and I found them to be extremely resourceful and solution-oriented. They even monitored the progress during the Christmas holiday while they were on vacation. A huge thank you!”
Thomas Cahill
Group Manager