In this Actec Systems educational webinar subject matter experts John Hearn and Michael Godwin review practical strategies and solutions to logistical challenges in absence management and absence reporting. From administrative retroactive adjustments to compliance inconsistencies and poor clinical handoffs, absence management programs can cause difficulty for even the most organized businesses. Pinpoint your organization’s challenges as we review the following topics:
* Practical absence process vs. compliance details
* Understanding perspectives of various stakeholders
* Identifying and circumventing industry limitations
* Seeing the bigger picture regarding absence management
For a copy of the slides, click here. To learn more about absence reporting, contact us.
Author: Andrew
You May Not Have a Handle on FMLA
Adhering to the Family and Medical Leave Act is a management issue for many employers. If you think that you have a handle on FMLA management, you may be wrong. Most companies run into issues with FMLA compliance, and those issues can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Three Common FMLA Issues
There are three main areas where many companies struggle with FMLA compliance.
Those areas are:
- Determining if an employee has a qualifying health condition
- Deciphering State and Federal leave laws
- Tracking FMLA intermittent absences
Unknown FMLA Facts
Here are some other facts you may not realize about FMLA management:
- Tracking FMLA related absences makes up 6% of payroll costs
- The Department of Labor initiates 43% of FMLA related investigations
- If a company loses a FMLA case, it can cost over $500,000
Managing FMLA absences is important to maintain compliance. Even if you feel you have intermittent and extended absence management under control, your company may not be handling them in an efficient manner.
Effective absence management requires a comprehensive strategy and an effective way to track and manage all absences. Contact the experts at Actec to learn how they can help you track absences and ensure compliance with the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Webinar: FMLA & Absence Management – Processes to Drive Compliance
Join Actec Systems for this educational webinar as subject matter experts John Hearn and Michael Godwin review practical strategies and solutions to logistical challenges in absence management and absence reporting. From “notification leakage” to compliance inconsistencies and poor clinical handoffs, absence management programs can cause difficulty for even the most organized businesses. Pinpoint your organization’s challenges as we review the following topics:
Practical absence processes to support compliance- Managing the perspectives of various internal stakeholders
- Identifying and circumventing industry limitations
- Big picture process design to support absence management
Two Sessions Held Thursday, May 12th:
11:00 AM – 11:30 AM EDT
2:00 PM – 2:30 PM EDT
Space is limited – use this link to register:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/rt/3407114229344092420
5 Trends in FNOL Processes
There have been recent changes in five main areas of FNOL management. These five trends are in the area of pricing, technology, customer behavior, regulation and staffing practices. These five trends in FNOL processes will require companies to adapt if they want to guarantee continued success.
Pricing
Companies need to balance reducing expenses against ROI of potential investments. This has become important due to the need for FNOL processes to be flexible, available on multiple channels, and responsive against the need to maintain profit margins in an environment where premium growth is slower.
Technology
Companies continue to seek better data analysis tools and predictive modeling in order to improve underwriting practices and detect fraud. Better technology is also important to reduce claims cost and increase consistency while providing access on more channels.
Customer Behavior
Connectivity is important to meet customer demand of better pricing, better customer service and increased accessibility. Companies need to be able to understand their customers better in order to enhance the FNOL experience, which is often a key touch point with customers.
Regulation
Since regulatory intervention and scrutiny is on the rise, companies need to increase key aspects of the FNOL Process:
- Greater transparency
- Improved reporting capabilities
- Streamlining compliance processes
By being proactive when addressing multiple regulations, companies can eliminate the risk of fines and penalties due to compliance issues.
Staffing Practices
The aging workforce is leaving behind a skills gap that is difficult to fill. Most companies don’t have plans in place to meet their future staffing needs nor do they understand the intricacies of recruiting the millennial workforce. Businesses have to start creating recruiting policies today to ensure they have a skilled workforce that will be able to handle FNOL processes quickly and efficiently.
With the changes in pricing, technology, customer behavior, regulation and staffing practices, many businesses are finding it difficult to maintain an efficient FNOL process. Contact Actec today to learn how they can help you manage this vital customer touch point.
Absence Management Silo Strategies May Create Inefficiencies
A current trend in absence and compensation management is to create work silos. When companies separate workers compensation and disability leave programs, it can create efficient teams within your human resource department. However, not unifying your absence management strategies may create inefficiencies that can lead to a loss in revenue.
Separate May Not Be Equal
When you separate benefit programs there can be unifying data your company is missing. This data can help organizations understand what drives employees to take leave or unplanned absences. Unifying all absence and compensation programs within an organization can reduce overall cost, increase productivity and help determine the way employees use their company benefits.
A Strategy to Bind Them All
When you unite benefit programs as opposed to siloing them, your company can track important information, including:
- Lost time data
- Claim tracking
- Unaccounted for absences
- Overpayment of benefits
- Overpayment of salaries
You can also determine important information, like if your current benefits program makes employee choose between filing a worker’s compensation claim or filing for non-occupational disability benefits when they suffer a work-related injury.
If your organization is looking for ways to increase company productivity and reduce costs, you need to evaluate your absence management and absence reporting strategies. Contact the experts at Actec to learn how they can help you with accurate leave tracking and absence reporting solutions.
The Five Critical Steps of Managing the FNOL Process
When a customer submits a claim, it is important for you to remain in control of the FNOL process. This will help you in the later stages, such as negotiation and settlement. Here are five mission-critical steps of the first notice of loss process that are essential for maintaining control of a claim. When the process begins, it’s vital to cultivate a positive relationship with the customer. This happens by:
- Having good listening skills
- Knowing the details of the file
- Understanding how to develop the claim
- Considering all relevant information factors
- Determining how to handle the initial investigation
A positive relationship will help your company work through the process with the claimant. This will prevent the claim from stalling because the customer resists part of the process or holds the company hostage during the negotiation process.
Managing the FNOL process puts your company in control but still creates a positive experience for the customer. Not all claims will progress smoothly, but utilizing strategies that manage first notice of loss will help you work with your customers if the process gets rough.
If you are looking for ways to put your company in control with FNOL management, contact the experts at Actec.
Is Your Absence Management Policy Flexible?
Absences count for as much as 35% of a company’s payroll. This makes absence management an important part of reducing costs for an organization. Using strategies that include workplace flexibility as part of a company’s absence management policy can help decrease absences while increasing employee engagement.
What is Workplace Flexibility?
Workplace flexibility is a term used to create manageable accommodations for employees to help them complete necessary tasks. These accommodations can be temporary or permanent and can include a flexibility in location or hours.
Workplace Location Flexibility
Accommodations for workplace flexibility can include:
- Working from a satellite office
- Partial or complete telecommuting
- Some combination of the above accommodations with part-time work at the facility
Work Hours Flexibility
Accommodations for work hours can include:
- Job sharing
- Part-time work
- Flex time
- Non-standard shifts
- Compressed work weeks
Benefits of Workplace Flexibility
There are many benefits to workplace flexibility. People who are injured or recovering from an illness can return to work sooner if your company is able to offer telecommuting options or flexible hours. People who are older or disabled may be able to complete tasks successfully if they work part-time or share their position with another employee. Employees with families may be able to telecommute when staying home with a sick child instead of having to call in sick and miss time.
The benefits of instituting workplace flexibility also extend toward improving absence management and increasing the company’s profitability. If your company is looking for alternative ways to decrease absenteeism, contact the experts at Actec.
Manage Absenteeism with Wellness Programs
There is a new trend in employee management that has resulted in a significant impact on absenteeism and performance. Companies who sponsor fitness and wellness programs find that their employees are happier, more productive and less likely to call out sick.
An Increase in Wellness Programs
A recent study found that 70% of US businesses offered wellness programs, up 20% from 2008. This increase is due to the benefits of fitness programs across the board. Productivity is up, absenteeism is down and employee retention is improved.
Benefits of Wellness Programs
The increase in revenue has occurred despite the low ROI employers receive from creating and maintaining these programs. In fact, many companies have a goal separate from ROI when they decide to sponsor a wellness program for their employees. The four main reasons behind sponsored fitness and wellness programs include:
- Improve teamwork/morale
- Reduce Absenteeism
- Health and Well-being of Staff
- Improve Work Productivity
How Wellness Programs Improve Production
How is it that improving the health of employees has such a positive impact on production? In addition to improving overall health and wellbeing, diet and exercise improves cognitive performance in five main areas:
- Mental stamina
- Memory
- Concentration
- Creativity
- Learning
Employees who are able to focus on their work, retain facts and have improved creativity are able to get more work done in shorter periods of time. They are also able learn new skills faster and apply those new skills better than people who are not physically and mentally fit.
Reduced Absenteeism
Physical activity release endorphins, which means employees who exercise are in a better mood and less likely to become ill. They are also less prone to stress and dissatisfaction at work, reducing the need or desire to call in sick to work.
Absentee management strategies include absence prevention as well as creating workflows for reporting absences. The benefit of creating an employer sponsored wellness program reaches beyond reducing absences to all facets of the organization. To learn more tips on absence management, contact the experts at Actec.
5 FNOL Terms You Need to Understand
As with any industry, insurance is filled with abbreviations. The abbreviations regarding FNOL call centers are important for businesses to understand if they want to improve customer satisfaction and handle claims efficiently. Here are five terms you need to understand for your FNOL Call Center.
ASA
ASA stands for Average Speed to Answer. This is the amount of time it takes for your intake specialists to respond to inbound calls. If your ASA is too long you may have issues with ATA.
ATA
ATA is an abbreviation for Average Time Abandonment. If a customer is on hold too long they will disconnect the call. If a customer hangs up because they receive a recorded message, the phone rings for a long time without being answered or the individual is left on hold too long you will have to deal with dissatisfied customers. Two reasons for increased customer disconnects can be ATB and CHT.
ATB
ATB or All Trunks Busy is a term used when all lines are engaged so the call center can’t receive additional inbound calls or make outbound calls. ATB often occurs when a company doesn’t have the right infrastructure to handle call volume.
CHT
Call Handling Time (CHT) is the total time it takes for a call center representative to handle a claim, including time on the phone with the customer and time after the call to complete the necessary paperwork. If an intake specialist takes too much time handling one claim, the ASA is increased, which affects the companies ATA. EDI may also impact CHT, thereby decreasing the quality of the entire intake process.
EDI
EDI is the Electronic Data Interchange used by all claim management parties. The more efficient a company’s EDI is, the faster a call center can complete a FNOL intake form. Efficient EDI also reduces penalties, fines and customer dissatisfaction.
Understanding these five terms and managing their impact on your call center will create an efficient FNOL intake process. Some companies have a handle on these five terms, while others need to find ways to improve their FNOL management. Contact the experts at Actec for more information about our proprietary intake solution, and how you can use it to improve workflow and improve customer satisfaction
FNOL Predictions 2016
As insurance and technology evolve, the FNOL workflow process is undergoing important changes. We expect a number of shifts to take root in 2016, including:
- Consumer Engagement Key Metric: Consumer engagement will become a key metric for both buying criterion and performance metrics. FNOL call centers will need to engage customers and ensure satisfaction in addition to filing claims.
- Processes that Can Scale: As companies try to lower costs and increase effectiveness they search for processes that can scale. Software that can scale the FNOL process will be a competitive advantage.
- Quality Data For Processing: As wearable technology and the Internet of Things improves data collection, it will also allow companies to supply more information for FNOL processing to reduce the time it takes to complete documentation.
- All in One Place Platforms: The availability of all in one place platforms for FNOL processing will increase efficiency while decreasing the need for multiple systems.
- Sophisticated Data Modeling: Improved analytics and data modeling will help companies refine the FNOL process.
2016 will see insurance technology improvements that will effect FNOL process management and enhance customer engagement. Better data, analysis and modeling will help companies determine how to improve FNOL process management. All in one place platforms and software that can scale will help refine the management flow of claims by increase up to date information and decrease input errors. With better data and faster processing, companies will be able to hit customer engagement goals and ensure satisfaction.
Contact the experts at Actec to learn how our proprietary solution can help you increase customer engagement with scalable solutions and improved data management.