America's Benefit Specialist August/September 2023

PRODUCT NEWS

Employees can enroll at the worksite, and coverage is transferable, so employees can choose to take their coverage

with them after they retire or leave their employer. For more information, visit Aflac.com/business.

NFP INTRODUCES PRICE-TRANSPARENCY TOOL NFP has released TPCompare, a pricing and comparative analysis tool for healthcare delivery systems. TPCompare benchmarks data from providers, facilities and payers and then compares the cost and quality scoring of medical proce dures and services against other healthcare delivery systems. “Recently enacted legislation requires hospitals and payers to establish, update and make public their healthcare proce dural charges for in-network services,” said Kim Bell, head of Health & Benefits, NFP. “While very few market players have built a solution suitable for healthcare delivery systems in to day’s price transparency environment, TPCompare provides visibility into formerly trade secret commercial pricing that can create a competitive advantage opportunity aimed at hospitals and health systems.” Heidi Cottle, national practice leader, SVP, Cost Contain ment Strategies, NFP, led the development of TPCompare. Cottle, who has been helping NFP clients manage healthcare costs since 2013, is a healthcare cost-containment specialist with more than 30 years of leadership experience across employee benefits. “TPCompare brings cost transparency data to anoth er level, supported by enhanced data sets that produce a detailed view and accuracy to the analytics,” said Cottle. “The tool empowers healthcare providers to negotiate competitive pricing from a position of strength by independently validat ing quantitative and qualitative data for medical procedures and services against a comprehensive competitor database. This creates a higher level of cost accountability, focused on quality metrics, to measure overall outcome improvement for stakeholders.”

INDEPENDENCE BLUE CROSS AND SUN LIFE ANNOUNCE STOP-LOSS COLLABORATION Independence Blue Cross and Sun Life U.S. have announced a collaboration to exclusively provide stop-loss insurance for Independence’s self-funded group customers. Stop-loss insurance can protect self-funded employers that take on the financial risk of providing health insurance for their employ ees against large, unpredictable or catastrophic losses from higher-than-anticipated claims. Independence offers a comprehensive approach to self-funded customers’ health plans, helping clients balance and optimize healthcare costs while enhancing their employ ees’ healthcare experience and overall well-being. “We selected Sun Life after a strategic search where we evaluated their capabilities and partnership approach against other national carriers,” said Mike Sullivan, executive vice president and president of diversified markets at Inde pendence Blue Cross. “In the end, it was a shared vision on how to best meet the needs of our customers that made this the right fit for Independence. The Independence collaboration with Sun Life for Stop Loss insurance will have: • customizable solutions with competitive pricing and re duced fees for Independence Blue Cross groups • reporting with actionable insights to make it easier for employers to make decisions about their self-funded plans • cash-flow solutions with an advance funding program to pay claims at the time they are received, rather than wait ing for a reimbursement check after they are paid • other new program features to be introduced in the future as Independence establishes Sun Life as the company’s exclusive stop-loss partner. The Independence and Sun Life collaboration and all features will be effective January 1, 2024. Select benefits will be available now through the end of 2023 for new Indepen dence self-funded employer groups who choose Sun Life for stop-loss insurance.

BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD OF MINNESOTA ADDING MENTAL HEALTH PEER SUPPORT SPECIALIST COVERAGE TO COMMERCIAL PLANS Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota recently an nounced that access to peer support specialists—trained individuals with lived experiences who provide support, encouragement and connections to resources for others facing recovery and mental health challenges—will be a covered benefit starting next year for members enrolled in fully insured commercial plans.

16 ABS | benefitspecialistmagazine.com