You asked, BCBSRI Answered: Impact Summit Session Q&A Spotlight

Our annual Impact Summit is a chance for leaders from our client organizations around the nation to join together to share their successes and gain guidance for the coming year.

At our most recent Summit, our exceedingly impressive clients celebrated the wins that they’ve experienced through collaboration with MedeAnalytics. After each of the presentations, attendees had the chance to learn more about these stories by asking specific questions of the presenters. We found many of the Q&As riveting and highly educational, and we hope you do, too.

Catch up on ConcertoCare here, then read on for valuable insights from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island!

Impact Summit Session Spotlight: Empowering Information Consultants to Evolve into Trusted Advisors with Employer Reporting at BCBSRI

Q: How has your employer reporting team shifted and grown to adapt to new needs?

A: Over the past couple of years, we’ve started offering reporting and consulting services via MedeAnalytics to our employer clients – starting with the largest and most high-profile. To enable this, we’ve expanded our team to include information consultants. This role goes beyond the traditional behind-the-curtain analyst responsibilities and takes on more of a consumer-facing role by supporting our clients in their analytics strategies and approaches. A great information consultant has superior technical knowledge and an analytics mindset, combined with excellent communication and people skills.

Q: How have the changes in your employer reporting strategy affected client satisfaction and retention?

A: Client satisfaction is one of the most important metrics for us at BCSBSRI. We want our clients and accounts to get the information they need, in a user-friendly format, and right when they need it.

Prior to implementing an employee reporting platform, our clients had to wait on basic PDF reports that we delivered via email. Now, they can easily access a self-service tool that generates the data and insights they need in real time.  This shift has made a huge impact on both satisfaction and retention. We’ve even gained a significant amount of new business as a result, especially from bringing back clients that have left and are now coming back for our analytics capabilities.

Q: To explore that idea a little further, can you tell us about how employer reporting has helped you win new business?

A: From a market competition standpoint, the employer reporting platform and services we provide set us far apart from other payers in our space. We can show potential clients the value of our analytics and what we can offer compared to our competitors – which has a major impact on our ability to win contracts. Because we have a relatively small market here in Rhode Island, there is also a lot of power in word-of-mouth, and we see a lot of new businesses coming in from leadership in the area discussing our capabilities and recommending us to others.

Q: What are some major elements that organizations should look for when deciding what analytics company to partner with?

A: At minimum, you want to evaluate potential partners across price, capabilities and ease of use. For BCBSRI, ease of use was our main priority. We wanted to know that our employees, brokers, clients and anyone else that would see or use the tool would be able to easily understand the interface, navigate the platform, and get the output needed.

Q: How do your customers or brokers get the data or reports they need?

A: In most cases, our brokers and clients have direct access to all the self-service, instant reporting capabilities that they require. However, our account managers and analysts can step in to help do extra work in the platform and act as a liaison to provide the necessary answers when more complex or unique questions arise.

Thank you to Angelo Pirri of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island for sharing his insights with us during our annual Impact Summit. Learn more about BCBSRI’s story here.