There’s a lot of talk these days about brokers shifting into more advisory roles. In fact, the trend has been discussed a lot over the last few years. But as revenue streams continue to dry up faster than the government’s stimulus funds, more and more brokers are looking to ensure their own survival by adapting to a new way of doing business.
While she might not necessarily admit to being a trendsetter, Judith Gilbert Mackey certainly blazed that trail before most. She gave up pushing products long ago, favoring instead the advisory role, practicing what others only preach.
Mackey’s career actually began on the other side — in the health care industry proper in a dental carrier’s systems and operations department. Years later, Mackey says, a large regional medical carrier scooped up the company.
“During this acquisition, I was initially asked to oversee the integration of all our operational systems and later gained experience in all aspects of medical coverage from a membership, claims, systems and marketing perspective,” she recalls.
“From this experience, I thought my knowledge would bring value to help clients manage their employee health and welfare programs, so I transitioned into a role as a benefit consultant,” she explains. “This expertise has given me an opportunity to assist clients in implementing and managing their employee benefit programs. Our company utilizes various plan management and cost containment techniques which help to mitigate the ever-increasing cost shift to employees.”
In short, Mackey and her associates aren’t out there knocking on doors and pushing product lines. They’re offering a comprehensive service that — on top of everything else — actually manages to save her clients money.
As far as how her own Colorado Springs, Colo.-based practice — Benefit Services Group — came to be two years ago, Mackey insists it all began with a single, common goal.
“Our team of experts came together with the goal of providing innovative consulting services to clients of all sizes,” she remembers. “Our collective backgrounds were with large national organizations driven to meet excessive revenue expectations and high overhead costs which often came at the expense of service. Within a smaller specialized ‘boutique’ firm, we can focus on service and identifying the finest channel partners to bring the best in class to our clients.
And it’s that strategy of channeling that larger-scale product and client knowledge into the consumer-centric approach you normally only can get at the boutique level that has fueled her company’s success.
“Our success has come from providing exceptional service and partnering with best in class organizations,” Mackey says. “If you provide service and a means to attain goals, success will come. We feel the relationship with our channel partners is a critical component of the continuum of cost management. We also believe it is vital to gain an in-depth understanding of their service model to identify any gaps that might exist. Today’s environment demands strong network access and technology support … we want to place our clients in a proactive environment to mitigate any surprises.
Mackey’s firm boasts an ability to adapt and move quickly, which is why she started the company and what, she adds emphatically, separates her brokers from the competition. But that’s not to say that Mackey’s firm hasn’t endured its share of economic struggles.
“Like the majority of companies, we’ve faced some challenges,” she admitted. “I believe the economic crisis stimulated our firm to concentrate more on outcomes for creating healthy lifestyles.”
And it’s that genuine focus on outcomes – both physical and fiscal – that lies at the heart of the much more practical version of health care reform that’s being implemented both successfully, and profitably, in a city not exactly know for being progressive. Keep in mind that these aren’t the kinds of things you’ll hear from Sens. Baucus or Kennedy anytime soon.
“What I mean is that both employers and employees need to take ownership of their health care costs,” Mackey explain. “Employers need to design and invest in health plans that promote preventive care, offer wellness incentives and provide employees with educational tools. Employees have a responsibility to 1) understand their health plan and 2) more effectively manage their personal and family health status by using the tools provided to them from their employer and insurance carrier. This is a marriage between all the parties: employer, employee and health carrier.
“We’ll know we have succeeded when health indicators improve and employees begin to understand the cost of services and search for effective alternatives,” she concludes.
It probably goes without saying that Mackey agrees that this is perhaps the most challenging time ever to break into this business.
“It’s not just spread sheeting to find the lowest premium and moving insurance carriers on an annual basis. There are so many facets to consider as you work with your clients. We have American workers fearful of losing their jobs, declining corporate profits, rising health care costs and uncharted ground facing benefit consultants with the President’s proposed overhaul of the health care industry. This is indeed a difficult time to enter the broker/consulting business,” she insists.
Looking ahead, Mackey predicts that, “the next generation of products is moving away from just trying to manage disease to focusing on improving health status, productivity and cost avoidance. Tomorrow’s programs need to be designed with features that look at the entire person within their continuum of care. The key to focusing on prevention and consumer-directed health is through the integration of medical plans, wellness offerings, pharmacy, dental and disability programs.
“We strive to partner with health care organizations that share our integration philosophy and do not work in a silo,” she says. “They need to be able to provide data to employers and consultants so we need to have a complete view of health care costs and utilization.”
Mackey also maintains that, more than ever, “Employee education and communication will be critical to engage employees as part of this integration. Online interactive enrollment tools will form a decisive part of creating a single source solution for member education and communication of benefit programs. Web availability on a 24/7 basis will also provide employees with access to personal benefit information along with easing the burden for the human resources department.”