The Client

A faith-based multi-level senior facility providing independent housing, assisted-living and skilled-nursing care options. Located in Southern California, the facility provides comprehensive medical services to residents, as well as recreational and leisure amenities.

The Challenge

The client’s former broker had implemented a limited “one size fits all” employee benefit plan.  Premium rates were noncompetitive, and there were numerous employee complaints regarding scope of coverage and administration.

The Solution

Our team started with a deep dive diagnostic review of employee “pain points,” the program structure and pricing, and plan communication documents. Importantly, we analyzed the demographics of the employee workforce and discovered it was very diverse with respect to age and cultural makeup. The existing benefit program did not address the widely varying needs and objectives of this population.

We negotiated a renewal program that offered employees a range of HMO and PPO plans and alternative provider networks to choose from. To ensure employees fully understood their benefit choices, we created high-quality multilingual communication materials and had a support team on-site to assist with open enrollment and meet with employees one-on-one.

The Results

Renewal coverage is far richer than their prior plan and program administration has been dramatically streamlined with the addition of Relation-provided services, including an online benefits administration platform, a compliance audit, and a call center that redirects members’ questions to us rather than to Human Resources. To further sweeten the deal—renewal pricing was $52,000 below expiring. Overall, employee satisfaction and engagement has improved significantly due to better education about their coverage and the staff’s new options to individually tailor coverage to fit their unique needs.