With the credit crunch taking its toll on corporate as well as personal budgets, the drive to manage costs and make every purchase a prudent one has become a mantra for everyone involved. Providing quality international healthcare alone is no longer enough. In the current climate, budget-savvy clients and advisors aren’t simply looking for the best value, keenly priced expatriate healthcare, they’re also looking for effective strategies for managing those expatriate costs. Which means international healthcare providers need to step up to the plate and effect a shift in their thinking.
Of course, changing that mind-set isn’t easy. Neither is it an indictment of what healthcare providers have already achieved.
In a sector where the product has a very personal impact upon its users, many healthcare providers have justifiably pursued a service agenda. Energy has been directed at perfecting a service agenda that includes active case management, direct payment to providers, 24/7 -365 days a year international service centres, websites, online enrolment, and electronic claims payments. And of course they have been right. Excellent service is essential but in the current economic climate, international healthcare providers don’t simply have to offer a value added service in order to distinguish themselves from the rest of the market. They need to offer clients something that is downright difficult to achieve – an effective strategy for managing expatriate costs. At CIGNA International Expatriate Benefits we’ve developed our own solution to that challenging agenda – it’s called CIGNALinks.
When it comes to international healthcare, for most providers it is the ability to fully integrate the best of a global medical plan with the administrative services and provider networks of local firms that has come to represent the pinnacle of global healthcare provision. And this means leveraging the capabilities of both global and local healthcare to benefit both companies and their members.
Any international programme aiming to combine the strengths of global and local provision must also be flexible enough to vary slightly from country to country – taking into account local conditions, regulatory requirements, market practices, and culture. In short, a pretty tall order.
The key to CIGNALinks is an alliance with a local company with which we integrate our global medical plans. The details vary between countries to reflect local conditions, regulation, and culture. But the greatest benefit of CIGNALinks is that it simplifies the administration of healthcare in the host country for employers, members, and their families; has the potential to save money for both employers and their expatriate employees; and last – but certainly not least important – addresses local compliance issues in those countries where government regulations may affect benefit offerings and access to care – a particularly important issue in Australia, the Netherlands, and certain countries in the Middle East.
It is easy for employers to fall foul of the frequent changes being made to healthcare legislation around the world. By offering access to expertise and sharing it with their clients, health insurers have the opportunity to add value. Many clients set considerable store by the information provided as an integral part of their healthcare service because – as primarily HR people – it is expertise they simply don’t have at their fingertips. Generally, HR specialists have to call upon the resources of an in-house legal counsel, or other back-office support, in order to obtain important information such as changes to international healthcare legislation – making them vulnerable to noncompliance.
High quality management information is also a key tool for success during a recession. Management information enables senior management to make informed decisions, understand their impact on profitability, and generally safeguard the health of their business. Without management information, clients can be severely disadvantaged in planning, both for human resources and financial issues.
As an example, we are able to report both gross and net claims figures to clients whose members use its US Preferred Provider Organisation, which will typically demonstrate a real cost saving to the client of 30 – 40 per cent.
Today, it is not enough for a healthcare provider to simply be better. For the client’s sake, they need to be capable of distinguishing the service they offer from the rest of the market, and provide clients with the figures that help them manage the costs of expatriate healthcare. In short, they need to deliver the difficult.