Getting You Ready for Open Enrollment PRINT VERSION

We’re excited to introduce some new and enhanced
Benergy solutions.

• Benergy Enrollment Ad Hoc Reporting – Benergy Enrollment customers can take advantage of new flexible Ad Hoc Reporting capabilities, in addition to the 50+ standard reports that come with the product. Now you can easily sort, filter, present, and export the specific benefits data you need to analyze and manage benefits data without the need for developer’s assistance. In addition, you can easily create graphical reports and schedule report distribution to groups of interested stakeholders. For instance with Ad Hoc Reporting, you can access and report on specific data to get a clear understanding of reasons for decline of coverage, benefits election trends, cost patterns within an organization, and many other benefits issues of strategic importance.
  
• Benergy Enrollment Enhancements
  
• Dependent Children Benefits Eligibility – The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) passed earlier this year requires health plans and issuers that offer dependent coverage to make this coverage available until a dependent child reaches the age of 26. The new coverage rules go into effect for health plans that have plan year start dates beginning on or after September 23, 2010. Health plans with plan year start dates beginning before September 23, 2010, are not covered under this section of the Act, but must comply with the old Federal guidelines in regard to dependent children health plan coverage criteria. Further, some states and employers have set dependent child eligibility age limits that exceed the new federal guideline under the Act.
  
  Based on the summary above, there are a variety of scenarios regarding dependent children eligibility regulations that need to be accommodated and supported in the Enrollment system.
  
  To accomplish this, we have made no changes to the Plan Setup pages for tiered plan types that may need to set eligibility rules for “full-time students” and “financially dependent” children. The Dependent Age Limits section of the Plan Setup page for each plan will determine which dependent children will be presented in the system for possible enrollment by the covered employee.
  
  The dependent status options on the Add / Edit Dependent page accessible to the HR administrator users and the dependent statement options on the Additional Information page used by the employees have been modified to make these options more age neutral.
  
  
  Specifically, the dependent status options on the Add / Edit Dependent page now include the following:
  
  “This is a dependent child or an adult dependent child and is not your spouse”
  
  “This is an adult dependent child and is not your spouse and is a full-time student”
  
  “This is an adult dependent child and is not your spouse, and is mentally or physically impaired”
  
  "This is an adult dependent child and is not your spouse, and is living at home and is financially dependent on the employee”
  
  An adult dependent child is defined as a child 19 years of age or older.
  
  The dependent statement options for employees on the Additional Information page have been similarly modified. A selection of a dependent statement by an employee on this page will result in the selection or flagging of the corresponding dependent status option on the Add / Edit Dependent page for that dependent child.
  
  In addition, a link has been provided on the Add / Edit Dependent and Additional Information pages providing access to an overview of the new dependent child coverage criteria for review by HR administrators and employees, respectively.
  
  By leveraging the system’s current dependent children eligibility workflow rules along with the changes described above, the enrollment system provides an array of dependent status options, to HR administrators and employees, which can best conform to the various eligibility criteria regulations existing in today’s marketplace.
• International Phone Numbers – International phone numbers can now be populated into the system via user entry or file downloads. This capability is complementary to the current employee international address functionality. The entry and display of international phone numbers are enabled by the same “country drop-down” option in the Web Controls that activate the employee international address option.
  
  In addition, the capability to enter international phone numbers for employee emergency contacts is now available in the system. The country drop-down is enabled via the same Web Control settings that enable the country drop-down for the employee address and phone number.  However, the country drop-down for the emergency contact phone numbers operate independently from the country drop-down that allows for the country selection for employee addresses and phone numbers. Through this design different countries can be selected for the employee and emergency contact phone numbers.
  
  The Census Workbook has been modified to allow for the entry of country codes for the four employee phone number options, as well as country codes for the two emergency contract phone numbers and Contact Country associated with the emergency contact country drop-down. This new Census workbook is now the Census file available to clients via the enrollment system. However, clients can continue to use the “old” Census Workbook to perform census downloads, provided they do not desire to download employee or emergency contact international phone numbers.
  
  System reports that include employee phone numbers and emergency contact phone numbers have been modified to include domestic or international phone number formats as may be needed.
• Email Notifications – When an employee adds a Life Event or a Guaranteed Issue (GI) request into the enrollment system, an email notification will be sent to the HR administrator that a Life Event or GI request has been submitted for review and processing (approval or disapproval). These notifications are designed to facilitate the processing of such requests.

If you would like to find out more about any of Benergy’s products, please contact us at benergymarketing@adam.com.

Knowledgeworks Training - Keeping it SimplePRINT VERSION

The training team has a great solution for how to build effective training programs, we’re keeping it simple. The approach to training isn’t about anything more than meeting our client’s needs. We have asked for your feedback, understand the challenges you are facing, and seek to offer training solutions that meet your needs. Here’s how we are getting started:

• Enhancing our training options – We will be offering additional delivery formats to allow for on-demand training, including training videos and e-courses. These will be additional options beyond the training courses available live via Webex and in the classroom at our Atlanta office.

• Providing learning paths for all users – We will be creating training courses that meet the diverse needs of all users. For instance, we will begin to tailor training for specific user audiences such as brokers, HR administrators, and employees.

• Learning Aids and Documentation – We're interested in saving you time. Learning aids and product documentation will be created to enhance the learning process.

This is just the beginning and we look to you our business partner to let us know how we are doing. Thanks to everyone who took our Connect with Training survey. We received lots of really great feedback and will utilize the suggestions to enhance our training program. Congratulations to Jill P. from SEBS WI – Milwaukee, the winner of the drawing for a $100 gift card.

Want to connect with training but don’t know how? Send an email to benergymarketing@adam.com.

Knowledgeworks Webinar Series:
Give Us Your Input & Enter to Win a $100 Gift Card!PRINT VERSION

Based on the positive feedback from everyone who participated in the webinars, we plan to continue the series and would like your feedback. Please click on the link below and fill out a quick survey. You’ll automatically be entered into a drawing for a $100 gift card!

Over the last several months the Benergy Interworks team has been pleased to provide a series of 12 Knowledgeworks educational webinars developed for insurance brokers and HR/benefits professionals seeking the latest information, trends, and best practices. This educational content featuring highly respected industry experts focused on three topic areas – Health Care Reform, Practice Management, and Technology Solutions.

Click here to fill out survey.

We value your opinion and thank you in advance for your participation!

Get the recognition you deserve
Benergy Builder Awards ProgramPRINT VERSION

The Benergy Interworks team is pleased to introduce the first annual Benergy Builder Awards program. We’re continually excited by the creative, innovative, and amazing Benergy sites that our customers are building using the Benergy Communications platform. So if you think your online employee benefits site is a cut above the rest or you’re using out-of-the box creative methods to engage employees and drive utilization, it’s time to get the recognition you deserve!

We will be recognizing Benergy Builders in four categories including:

• Best Overall – The Benergy sites that are a combination of the most creative, most innovative, and highlight HR excellence in terms of the site launch and ongoing utilization.
• Most Creative – The Benergy sites that have the most creative design or creative elements to drive utilization.
• Most Innovative – The Benergy sites that have the most innovative use of technology. (i.e., customized banners, links to meet specific requirements).
• HR Excellence – The Benergy sites with the best HR program launch and/or ongoing HR programs to engage employees and drive utilization.

Judging

We have lined up judges from SHRM, Employee Benefit News, Benefits Selling magazine, the Arketi Group, and A.D.A.M. to review the award entries. The judges are excited to have a first-hand look at the excellent online employee benefits sites that our Benergy customers are creating.

Recognition

In each category – Best Overall, Most Creative, Most Innovative and HR Excellence – we will recognize the winners with the following prizes:

• 1st Place – Apple iPad or a charitable donation in your company’s name
• 2nd Place - $250 or a charitable donation in your company’s name
• 3rd Place - $100 or a charitable donation in your company’s name

In addition, all award recipients will be featured in a press release, on the Benergy section of the A.D.A.M. website, and in industry publications.

Entry Deadline

The deadline for entries is Friday, December 3, 2010. Winners in each category will be announced in January 2011.

Click here to download the form

For more information please contact us at benergymarketing@adam.com.

Meet Your Client Services Team PRINT VERSION

Natalie Vigil
EDI Specialist

Natalie Vigil is the EDI Specialist responsible for managing the carrier and payroll feed development and support process for Benergy Interworks. Natalie brings extensive experience with managing EDI processes to the company. Prior to joining Benergy Interworks, Natalie worked for ADP/Employease as an Integration Specialist and Programming Analyst responsible for EDI processes and data requirements. Before joining ADP, she worked for United Health Group in different positions related to eligibility, enrollment, and EDI processes.

Natalie is originally from Albuquerque, NM and Southern California. She moved to Atlanta four years ago. In her free time she likes kickboxing, drawing, painting, hanging out with friends, and traveling.

If you have any questions about Benergy EDI services, please contact us at benergymarketing@adam.com.

Quick TipsPRINT VERSION

Are you ready for Open Enrollment season? Here are a few “house cleaning” tips to help your passive Open Enrollment run smoothly.

When preparing for a passive Open Enrollment (where employees are not required to make elections), your Benergy Implementation Specialist can help you “roll over” your employees’ current benefit elections into the new plan year. It is important to be sure that the employees’ records reflect their actual coverage at that point in time. One way to ensure that these elections are current is to clean out all pending Guaranteed Issue (GI) approvals and Life Events.

If you take a look at your GI Approval page, you will likely see pending GI’s that were never approved or disapproved from your last Open Enrollment. This is a very common occurrence. Go ahead and “Disapprove” these old elections. This will ensure that employee records reflect their actual coverage level and allow them to re-elect the benefits and cause the applicable Evidence of Insurability (EOI) rules to trigger properly during Open Enrollment.

In addition, make sure to approve or disapprove any pending Life Events prior to the start of your Open Enrollment. If there are any Life Events still in a pended status when elections are “rolled over” into the new plan year, the future year records may not reflect the most current coverage levels. Remember that approval of a Life Event only affects the current plan year and does not carry over into the new plan year. Adjustments to 2011 elections may be required if a Life Event is approved after your Open Enrollment has ended.

Please be sure to contact your designated Implementation Specialist if you have any questions about GI Approvals or Life Events in preparation for your Open Enrollment. Or you can contact us at benergymarketing@adam.com.