HPS is excited to celebrate its 20th birthday this month! As we reflect on the differences between our 20th year and our last big celebration 5 years ago, one theme that has stood out to us is how much has changed.
Sure, change is always inevitable, but for healthcare and especially healthcare technology, change has been happening at an increasingly rapid pace. The demands and needs for technology are very different from what they were 20 years ago and certainly 5 years ago.
This concept of change will drive our technological development this year and into the future. Here are some of the major changes we’ve observed and how we will address them in the years to come.
Mergers & Acquisitions
The past 5 years have been greatly categorized by trends of mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Whether driven by the ACA or the desire for greater profitability, M&A has taken our industry by storm. We’ve seen major carriers join forces, other companies buy out PBMs, and several TPAs merge in order to provide self-funded administration on a more scalable basis.
Any merger or acquisition requires the integration of systems and business processes. HPS supports this need by centralizing information from different systems and business units and displaying it consistently and seamlessly online. All information can be accessed with one login, and can be restricted by user based on who needs to see it.
As industry mergers & acquisitions continue, HPS stands ready to assist businesses in maintaining a seamless online environment no matter what changes are happening behind the scenes.
Retiring and Transitioning of Claim Adjudication Systems
Though claim adjudication system providers have seen their share of M&A, we’ve also seen many of them retire their older technologies. With these technology sunsets come the arduous migration to newer claim administration systems.
Implementing a new claim system is a time-consuming process with the great potential for business disruption if not careful. HPS helps clients mitigate these disruptions by maintaining a consistent online interface for the end users while the system change or migration is happening behind the scenes. This in turn minimizes our clients’ Customer Service disruptions and keeps call volumes low. Plus, even after they’ve transitioned to the new claim system, our clients can still maintain access to the data from the previous system because much of it has already been loaded to the portal.
Claim system conversions are inevitable, but they don’t have to be disruptive. As technology upgrades and changes prevail, the HPS portal will be a key tool for maintaining business continuity in the face of changing claim system technology.
Changing of Ancillary Benefit Programs
Employers and Payers are always looking for the latest and greatest when it comes to wellness programs, telemedicine, and other ancillary benefits. New program providers are constantly coming out of the woodwork and buyers of these services are always in pursuit of the newest and best options for plan members.
As this ongoing “quest for the best” continues in our industry, HPS will continue to make it easy for our clients to connect new vendors to their portal, remove the old ones, and to maintain multiple vendor integrations with their portal. In addition, our clients can easily turn access to these programs on or off in the portal depending on which users have bought them.
Through HPS’ seamless integration and vendor management tools, clients can not only manage benefit transitions easily but also have an easier time selling and managing access to the programs they’re offering.
Employers’ Needs for Greater Control
The recent joint venture among Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JP Morgan is a sign of things to come with more and more Employers. As they become more sophisticated in healthcare cost management, Employers will need greater control of their data so they can analyze their claims activity and effectively curb the cost of healthcare.
When Employers have a benefits portal through their carrier, maintaining access to their data can be problematic. If they leave that carrier, they’d also leave their data behind and forgo the ability to analyze it for cost containment. However, by using an independently-licensed, privately branded portal through HPS, Employers can maintain all their healthcare data as they move from one carrier to another. This not only gives them access to their past data so they can identify spending trends, but also gives them a seamless platform for their employees to access all their benefit-related information.
As Employers look to centralize access to their benefit data, HPS’ solutions will enable high degrees of integration, management, and optimization of benefit workflows & communications.
It has been said that the only things we can count on are death and taxes. While that’s true, another certainty we can expect is the existence of change. Especially when it comes to insurance, healthcare, and technology, change is one of the most leading, radical trends during this time. As we look toward the next 20 years, HPS’ objective is to remain nimble and flexible so we can better serve our clients and so that our clients can easily adapt and adjust during the coming seasons of change.
Thank you to our clients and partners who have walked with us the past 20 years. It’s been an honor to work with you and we look forward to continuing to serve you in the years to come.