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Employer 101
The premise of consumer-directed plans is
simple:
Empower consumers to play a bigger role in improving
their health, and in turn see healthier, more engaged employees
and a healthier bottom line for you – the employer. The key is to
transform a passive healthcare participant into an active healthcare
consumer who is educated, empowered, and involved in all aspects
of his or her healthcare decision-making. It’s from this idea that
health reimbursement arrangements and health savings accounts have
evolved as a solution to rising healthcare costs.
All
of our CDHP plans start with a healthy bottom line
How CDHP's will Help
How CDHP's Help Reduce
Costs
CDHP: Getting Started
Banking
Partnership with Bank of America
Employer Service Tools
Plan Member Self-Service
Tools
All of our CDHP plans start with a healthy bottom
line.
- Make it easy for our plan members to understand how to do
the right things for their health.
- Help our plan members see the value of informed health spending.
- Educate and inform our plan members about how to maintain
health and how to avoid unhealthy behaviors.
- Empower our plan members to take ownership of their healthcare
decision- making and spending.
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A CDHP will help you:
- Control the rising cost of healthcare.
- Promote cost-consciousness among employees and their family
members by making them aware of the true cost of healthcare.
- Expand employees’ choice and control of health coverage
options.
- Provide a pretax benefit to employees.
- Attract and retain employees.
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How CDHP's Help Reduce Costs
- Like traditional plans, a CDHP offers a comprehensive health
plan, first-dollar coverage for some preventive care, and prescription
drug coverage.
- Unlike a traditional plan, a CDHP pairs higher deductibles
with savings account options that CDHP plan members can use
to pay for health expenses.
- There are two primary types of savings accounts: health
savings accounts (HSA) and health reimbursement arrangements
(HRA).
- Before a member meets the plan deductible, CDHP plan members
pay for the cost of their healthcare – either out of pocket,
or with the help of their HSA or HRA. (Some preventive care
is covered at 100% and not applicable to the deductible.)
- The design of the high-deductible plan gives the plan member
more incentive to be aware of actual healthcare costs, and to
explore alternative healthcare options that may be less costly.
- A key component to the success of a CDHP is the education
and empowerment of individuals. In order for plan members to
become true consumers, they must have access to education and
information to make informed healthcare decisions.
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Getting Started
STEP 1: Choose a high-deductible
health plan that will work for your organization.
STEP 2: Choose a health account
option to offer your plan members.
MercyHSA™
MercyHSA™ offers maximum cost effectiveness
for your benefit plan. It gives your employees the opportunity
to establish a health savings account (HSA) that can be used
to pay for healthcare expenses, including prescriptions. The
HSA is funded by employee pre-tax or post-tax contributions,
and employers may also choose to make contributions to the individual’s
account. MercyHSA™ plan includes traditional health coverage,
similar to a typical health plan, to help protect your employees
against health expenses.
MercyHRA™
MercyHRA™ gives your employees the opportunity
to establish a spending account, called a health reimbursement
arrangement (HRA), in which you as the employer allocate funds
to be used for medical care, including prescriptions. MercyHRA™
also includes traditional health plan coverage with an out-of-pocket
maximum, which helps protect your covered employees from large
health expenses.
STEP 3: Mercy Health Plans can
tailor your CDHP plan for your employees. Some options that may
be available include:
- Personal Health Record
- Health Risk Assessment
- MyChoice Benefit Plan
- Wellness Incentives
- Customized “Plan For Health”
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Banking Partnership with Bank of America®
Mercy Health Plans is proud to partner with one
of the nation’s leading financial institutions to support the management
of CDHP plan member and employer accounts.
Through this financial partnership with Bank of
America, MercyHSA™ and MercyHRA™ are full-service products – with
FDIC-insured accounts that seamlessly integrate with the financial
and health administration of the plan. This partnership enables
employers and plan members to have a single point of contact for
most aspects of the plan.
It should be noted that employers are free to select
the banking partner of their choice. However, if another administrator
besides Bank of America is chosen, many of the advantages mentioned
here may not be available with other HSA administrators.
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Employer Service Tools
When partnering with Mercy Health Plans for a comprehensive,
turnkey program, we offer employers a suite of online tools available
on a secure and private website.
Functionality includes:
- Enrollment administration
- Eligibility changes/updates
- Reporting functionality
- Debit card management (if applicable)
- Administrative forms
Focused Education and Integrated Communications
Your Mercy Health Plans account representative will
work with you in a consultative approach to help communicate the
benefits of CDHP products to your employees. In addition, we provide
a library of marketing and educational communication materials to
assist you in promoting and implementing your CDHP plan.
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Plan Member Self-Service Tools
With a single sign-on experience, our plan members
will have access to their health plan and account information (through
the plan administrator, Bank of America). Plan members can use this
secure website throughout the year to manage their account(s).
Functionality includes:
- Summary of an individual’s health plan benefits
- Summary of eligible expenses with the health plan
- Summary of an individual’s account balances and transactions
in real time
- Ability to view claims via a member portal
- Administrative debit card management
Consumer-Directed Online Health Management
Tools
Your covered employees will have 24/7 access to
a suite of online health tools and resources to educate and empower
them. These tools will educate them about health conditions, manage
an illness, prepare them for surgery, and more.
Claims Support
Mercy Health Plans brings a state-of-the-art claims
support system to the administration of CDHP plan designs. With
this system you and your employees have the ability to view claims,
track deductible and out-of-pocket maximum status, and more.
Award-Winning Customer Service
Mercy Health Plans is proud of its outstanding customer
service and support. Our highly trained and customer-focused professionals
will assist your employees with care and compassion. They will answer
questions quickly and respectfully. It’s part of our mission, and
ingrained in our culture.
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