Case Studies - Insurance Design Administrators

Customer Profile

Based in Oakland, N.J., 30 minutes northwest of New York City, Insurance Design Administrators has become a recognized national leader in designing and administering self-funded health benefits plans by delivering what employers want most: manageable health benefits without the headaches and hassles of managing a benefits plan. As part of UHY Advisors, the thirteenth largest financial business service company in the U.S., IDA provides a full complement of Health Care benefit administration including actuarial consulting and legal services to their customers - including a full-time attorney on staff who can assist clients in dealing with changing regulatory issues that affect the delivery of healthcare benefits for their employees.

The Challenge

Prior to 1992, when they selected Acclamation Systems, Inc.'s LuminX to support their benefits management offerings, IDA struggled with technological shortcomings and information storage issues.

"We were concerned that we wouldn't be able to keep pace with the rapidly changing landscape in the health care industry," says Paul Sabina, President, Insurance Design Administrators. Sabina says his company was spending $100,000 a year on Microfiche, along with maintaining rows of cabinets reserved for hardcopy claim files, and a highly-skilled staff largely relegated to manual processes. With the changing regulations in health care, proprietary software was a concern: who would ensure the software was correctly coded to reflect the constantly changing state and federal laws and regulations?

As IDA grew, and their customers began requesting more sophisticated benefit designs that required the type of technology that was not available with the claims payment system they were using. Sabina had prior knowledge and experience with LuminX and began to look at it along with other vendors who he says tried to tell IDA what they needed instead of listening to them and providing a solution that met their needs.

The Solution

Today, IDA still faces the challenges of continuously changing regulations in health care, but they do not face those challenges alone. "LuminX's flexibility and software capabilities provide us with a peace of mind that cannot be achieved with proprietary software," Sabina says. "As state and federal laws and regulations change, the system is automatically coded to reflect those changes. ASI takes on the regulatory issues so we don't have to."

Sabina says that he is also pleased with the comprehensive set of modules that LuminX offers that support IDA's service offerings. "Whether a client wants an HRA, an HSA or managed care plan, LuminX has everything we need already built-in, and we receive automatic updates as the software is upgraded and improved," Sabina says. "With continuously upgraded software we don't have to wait for something new to come along. At the same time, if we need something, we have ASI's experience and resources to have it developed."

The Result

IDA realized significant benefits by implementing LuminX. "Using a rules-based, automated system has dramatically reduced the time it takes to process a claim. We were able to reduce overhead and use our staff in more efficient capacities, eliminating many manual and semi-manual processes," Sabina says. He also points out the benefits of having fully integrated capabilities for everything from scanning to EDI to claims processing.

For IDA, what sets LuminX and Acclamation Systems apart is that the management team really listens to the customer. Sabina praises the company's client services and hands-on management style. Recently, when IDA was migrating from an in-house solution to an ASP model, IDA's server was unable to accommodate the program changes. "So they shipped us a server and set it up. When we switch exclusively to the ASP, we'll ship it back. But in the mean time, we don't have to worry about the system interfering with business. Their management team listens and takes a personal interest in our needs," Sabina says. ""When something happens, you need a team behind you who can respond quickly and make things happen to resolve the situation." Sabina says. Visit Insurance Design Administrators, a UHY company, online at www.idatpa.com.