Caring for employees by humanizing BPO for health plans

Many health plans today outsource their business operations, and the decision to do this is challenging. From claims processing and provider data management to member services and support, outsourcing is a way to reduce administrative costs. For regional health plans, it’s a way to enhance efficiency and stay competitive to retain and expand market share vis-à-vis the national players. Outsourcing can also help address persistent labor shortages that make it difficult to fill administrative and customer service jobs.

This is especially true for organizations deeply rooted in their communities as employers of choice. However, deciding to outsource can be a hard choice. For many health plan leaders, it’s a conundrum: How do I exercise my fiduciary responsibility to ensure healthy financial outcomes for the long-term future? And how do I value my employees, whom I know well and personally treasure?

Fortunately, it's possible to reimagine your approach to business process outsourcing (BPO) in a way that values and respects your employees, sets them up for future success and preserves your organization's valued position in the community without bearing any overhead cost.

Elements of an outsourcing program for health plans — re-badging is a critical component

What should you expect from an outsourcing organization for your employees going through the re-badging process? Health plans need to choose outsourcing partners that meet these key expectations:

• An orientation program that respects employees and extends a warm welcome to new team members and leaders.
• Focused learning, growth and development plans and activities.
• Manager-led overview of potential career opportunities in the company.
• A community-of-practice network to build professional connections with other health plan experts, including opportunities for new hires to share their experiences and insights.
• Short- and long-term goal-setting for new employees that educates them about the health plan’s goals and how they can contribute.
• A detailed onboarding process that includes new employees onboarding, meeting contacts, learning about contracts, service level expectations, tools and processes.
• Access to a certification institute with hundreds of active certifications for technical, functional and behavioral skills.
• Knowledge transfer and succession plans to free up employees to pursue new opportunities.
• Monthly meetings with senior leaders for the first three months, followed by quarterly for the first year.

Pre-badge and post-badge, training and skill enhancement

When considering outsourcing, one of the most important aspects to consider is how to humanize the process. This means promoting a positive environment to make key employees feel valued and motivated during re-badging. Pre- and post-badge activities and skill enhancement can play a significant role in this regard.

Pre-badging includes identifying skills/talent and their related gaps in the organization at the front end. Accurately identify roles and map skills of re-badged client employees to the requirements in the “to be” process design. Map their expectations and opportunities and assess their cultural thinking.

Training should be provided to all employees involved in the outsourcing process before the process begins. This equips them with the necessary skills to succeed in their new roles. This will help them understand their responsibilities and expectations throughout the process.

During and post-badge, leaders could share a detailed onboarding plan with the re-badged employees and then incorporate their feedback. This might include setting up regular follow-up meetings with employees to support and motivate them in the new structure and role, familiarizing new employees with the outsourced organization and instilling pride early in the process.

The following are the most important guiding principles of re-badging work:

• Objective planning
• Transparent communication
• Clear planning to assimilate incoming employees into the company
• Creating a supportive and encouraging work environment
• Aligning employee aspirations with career opportunities

How to find the right health plan outsourcing partner?

During outsourcing, health plans must keep their key employees in the top priorities if they want successful results from this initiative. Taking this step will make sure that valued employees are taken care of during outsourcing while improving performance, growth, success and financial savings.

To maximize their outcomes and ROI from outsourcing, health plans must choose an outsourcing partner that is:

• Recognized as a top employer by independent human resource institutes and has a record of success in assimilating employees of acquired entities.
• A global organization providing opportunities to build experience, develop skills, industry certification and career trajectory.
• Strong in cutting-edge technology, but always has people at the center of its decision process.
• Determined to:
  • Retain employees.
  • Grow rebadged employees.
  • Elicit and act on employee feedback and survey results.
  • Advance careers beyond the initial re-badge assignment.

NTT DATA can help you with your dual imperative of lowering costs to compete and creating a nurturing environment for your employees while outsourcing. Our expert team of health plan BPO specialists provides opportunities to build experience and develop skills via training, industry certifications and career trajectories. We can help you grow as a health plan leader by fulfilling financial leadership accountability and taking care of your employees.

To learn more about our wide range of outsourcing services and solutions for health plans, visit BPO for Health Plans or contact us to learn more.