Headlines
"Self-directed health plans shift risk, cost to workers" - ACH in the Christian Science Monitor
August 12, 2002
"Uncovering Unbundling" - Article Featured in Human Resource Executive
May 3, 2002
"40 under 40" - Philadelphia Business Journal lists Clelland Green
March 29, 2002
ACH CEO Named to CareGain Board of Advisors
February 26, 2002
New model applies Internet to realize managed care's potential
November 1, 2001
Inc 500 rates America's Choice in country's top 500 growing companies
October 30, 2001
Philadelphia Business Journal features America's Choice
October 29, 2001
Philadelphia Inquirer features America's Choice
April 9, 2001
ACH Newsroom Main Page
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"It was just
too long," Murphy says. "We had employees waiting weeks and weeks to be
paid for claims and that was unacceptable. We knew we had to do something
so we started shopping and it came down to deciding between a traditional
provider and one that gave us access via the Internet. We wanted our
employees to have access right away--we wanted them to have more control.
So we took our benefits program online.
"It’s one of the smartest
moves we’ve made in the HR area," she adds. "Online access has made the
entire benefits claim process more efficient. And as the
administrator, it’s made me more productive. I can spend the time I need
to on other HR issues and be confident that our employees’ needs in the
benefits area are being met."
Clarion call
If
anyone doubts the inherent power of the Internet and its potential impact
on human resources, Murphy’s experience at Chyron is a clarion call. By
taking the company online, she has given the company’s employees control
over their health benefits, and over their valuable time. As an
administrator, she has fulfilled her mandate to work more effectively. And
she has done that by harnessing the technology that is rapidly recasting
the future of human resources.
Internet resources available to HR
professionals are virtually endless. Whether it’s benefits administration,
recruitment and retention, or even corporate wellness, there are tools
that abound in cyberspace which answer virtually every challenge, even as
they reveal opportunities previously uncontemplated.
It is, quite
literally, an unlimited universe for those who are willing to peer into
the future of HR. And for those who do, that time will be richly rewarded
with increased productivity, smarter decision-making and, ultimately, the
creation of a stronger sense of community within the company that has a
direct and lasting impact on profitability.
An emerging
community
On a larger, more dramatic scale, it is the need to
belong that will transform the HR community in cyberspace. At its root,
the Internet is a Wide Area Network (WAN) that allows databases to talk to
each other, encouraging disparate communities to join in the free and open
exchange of information.
Who will have membership in this
community? Virtually every segment of the human resource marketplace:
Employees, physicians and other health care providers, the medical
management community, employers and the insurance community.
When
HR is fully resident in cyberspace, each party will have a role to play in
weaving a seamless continuum of care -- a frictionless environment where
data is shared across the Ne,t reducing response time, the delivery of
care, and ultimately improving the quality of that care, even as costs are
reduced through the efficiency of online transactions.
That’s the
theory, anyway. And it works. At Chyron, Murphy has streamlined her
employee benefits program by taking it online, but she is not
alone.
JoAnn Marano administrates employee benefits for the
Philadelphia Phillies Baseball organization and went online three years
ago. Although the team’s players have insurance through the National
League, the Phillies’ front office staff, its trainers and its cadre of
scouts depend on the team for health benefits. Given, for example, the
average scout’s travel schedule -- they are on the road more than 200 days
a year -- online access is critical, she says.
"We’re so scattered,"
she explains. "We have people everywhere -- Puerto Rico, you name it. They
have to be able to get the help they need no matter where they
are.
"And I use the Web everyday," she adds. "I add and delete
employees, manage claims, review reports -- all online. We have 150 people
on the plan who use the Internet right now, and they tell me it’s
organized and very easy to use."
Powerful
partnerships
Benefits administration is just a small part of
the equation, though. The very core of the Internet’s strength for human
resources is its ability to empower and to forge partnerships that
generate positive outcomes.
The ever-growing number of
health-related Web sites is making it possible in many cases to diagnose,
track and treat illness and, in the process, give patients a key role in
managing their treatment. The Internet provides an impressive set of tools
to support that role.
Statistics, for example, show that
nationally, a significant number of diabetics are not following
doctor-prescribed treatment plans or carefully monitoring insulin or
glucose levels. But a New Jersey-based company, Protocol Driven Healthcare
Inc. (PDHI), has developed a Web site for diabetics on which patients,
physicians and even insurance carriers can consult and collaborate on
treatment.
The site offers a wealth of information on the latest
treatment protocols, as well as the ability for patients to chart and
track their treatment. Patients can get questions answered online and
report any sudden changes to care givers. Health care personnel can react
immediately if those changes indicate an urgent medical
development.
The medical advantages are obvious. What may not be
immediately apparent is the chain reaction this level of participation
often sets in motion. It is well documented that when compliance with
treatment plans increases, rates of absenteeism drop, hospital stays are
reduced and insurance claims decline. What the Internet allows, then, is
for this scenario to unfold quickly.
PDHI has nine specific health
channels under the umbrella site MyHealthyLife .com. The site is an
excellent example of the "seamless continuum of care" that the Internet
allows.
"It’s not the only site, of course. There are a number of
impressive sites like MyHealthyLife.com. DoHealth.com, a site devoted to
wellness, and Virtualmedicalgroup.com, a site that features "e-visits,"
are just a few that are laying the foundation of a strong health care
community -- and a critical resource for the human resource executives. And
chances are excellent that the benefits will be apparent very soon. We’ve
already seen what is happening in the health care community.
With
continuing technological advancements, the efficiencies the HR community
will achieve over the next five years will be nothing short of
astounding.
At Chyron and in the Phillies organization, we’ve already
seen the substantial advantages that derive from participation in an
Internet "community."
In HR departments everywhere, the changes
will be equally compelling. The Internet will give employees unprecedented
access to and control of their benefits packages. For HR administrators,
the "paperwork" associated with employee benefits will all but disappear
as claims administration is housed and handled at a Web site at the heart
of an online community.
But the Internet’s greatest gift to human
resource professionals may lie in the ability to make fast, informed and
accurate decisions -- decisions certain to impact profitability over time.
Given access to data that the Internet provides, it will be possible -- and
increasingly critical -- that HR executives be able to review that data in
real time in order to control escalating costs.
And from the
perspective of human resources, that may be the Internet’s finest hour.
E.B.N.
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