When it comes to securing stop-loss, too many benefit plans think the ball is only in the stop loss carrier’s court. Today, our hosts explain what plan administrators can do to cut out conflict and tie up loose ends before they suffer a costly loss. Ensuring an ongoing and fruitful relationship between plans and stop loss tomorrow requires intensive work today. Addressing these potential costly issues now will guarantee reimbursements are in the bag later. Click here to check out the podcast! (Make sure you subscribe to our YouTube and iTunes Channels!)
By: Jon Jablon, Esq. Reference-based pricing is a huge hot topic in the industry today, and different entities have very different ideas of how to accomplish a given health plan’s RBP goals. Doing it right isn’t difficult, especially when you have the right partners on your side – but doing it wrong is even easier. Here are a few of the most common RBP “bloopers and blunders.” Lack of preparation: poor (or no) supporting SPD language A health plan’s rights are only as good as its language. This is true regarding subrogation, assignments, and many other facets of plan benefits and administration – but it is especially true, and immediately noticeable, in the context of the plan’s payment parameters. Since RBP necessarily entails changing the way the health plan pays claims, the plan language must reflect how the Plan Administrator will adjudicate allowable amounts for claims submitted to the plan. If the language is vague, ambiguous, or unsupportive, the plan is giving medical providers the ammunition they need to invalidate the plan’s RBP-based payment determinations. Looking at claims in a vacuum: applying RBP payments to contracted claims Simply put, if a health plan has agreed to a contract, it must follow that contract, or prepare for the consequences. If a plan wants to use a reference-based pricing methodology, it should ensure that it doesn’t have contracts that require claims to be paid at a higher amount. One of the biggest issues we see is when a health plan pays a claim based on Medicare rates because it is payment the plan has deemed reasonable – only to later encounter pushback from a provider that asks, “what about our contract?” The world of insurance is a world full of contracts – especially self-funded insurance, where plans have to arrange their service agreements themselves rather than relying on an insurer to handle everything for them. Ignoring contracts is one of the most problematic things there is for a self-funded health plan. Not knowing your audience: refusing to settle claims with providers (or choosing too-low standards) Calling someone’s bluff when negotiating can be a useful tactic at times, but be aware that medical providers have the right to send patients to collections or even sue them. Calling a hospital’s bluff would be a more enticing prospect if not for the fact that the patient’s credit is held hostage – and unlike in Bruce Willis or Denzel Washington movies, hostages do sometimes get hurt… Just because the health plan may have the right to walk away from the bargaining table doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. Not knowing all the options: thinking RBP is all or nothing When looking into a reference-based pricing option, many TPAs, brokers, and health plans have the impression that they either use RBP, or they don’t. The reality is that there are other options out there! For some plans, physician-only networks and narrow networks will help the plan achieve its goals without the burden of “full” RBP; for many plans, though, the out-of-network option is the best way to go. If the plan accesses a provider network that adds significant value for the plan, and one that members are well-accustomed to, then perhaps losing that network access would not be the best route to take. The bottom line is that the self-funded industry contains various vendors and consultants that can offer reference-based pricing guidance and options to suit every health plan’s needs. Feel free to contact The Phia Group to learn more.