My Stop Loss Captive Draft Picks

Are You A Top Prospect or Do You Go Undrafted?

Stop-loss captives combine midsized companies to form a “team” committed to risk management.? As a “team”, a captive program provides individual companies larger size and scale to improve purchasing power and spread risk across the larger pool.

In light of the recent NFL draft, it would be worth considering how your company would fare if there was a draft of the best companies for the “team” inside a captive model.

Instead of measuring speed, strength and agility, a captive model would assess the measurables of your health plan in terms of cost efficiency, health risk management and commitment to the broader group.?

How do you stack up?

1.????? Proactive Risk Management

High Draft Pick: Companies with robust risk management practices can effectively reduce the frequency and severity of claims. This includes high utilization of primary care physicians, thoughtful management of specialty medications, and procedures that evaluate existing and new enrollment risk.

Undraftable: Companies with no written strategy regarding employee engagement in their healthcare, and no accountability to access and price of medical services or pharmacy costs. ?These employers are resistant to changes in strategy and structure of the health plan over time.

2.????? Collaboration and Accountability

High Draft Pick: Companies that desire to continually improve, adopting best practices and innovative solutions to stay ahead of their peers.? These employers crave analytics that transparently showcase strengths and weaknesses in their health plan; and feel motivated to take action to protect the team.

Undraftable: Companies that operate in a silo and punt the idea of change to “next year”.? These employers always have too many irons in the fire to implement best practices and fall victim to the renewal cycle based on outcomes they don’t think they can control.

3. Long-Term Vision

High Draft Pick: Companies with a long-term perspective on health benefits and cost management are more likely to reap the benefits of a stop-loss captive.? These employers are taking action to bend the cost curve of claims and implement a thoughtful game plan each year.? They know championships take time to earn.

Undraftable: Companies that want the market to buy their business each year.? These companies haven’t put in the work to look attractive to the market, but “hope” each year that someone will pick them anyway.? They artificially create a budget for next year, and hope there is an insurance company that gets close enough to make it work.

A Good Captive Team Wins Championships

For a stop-loss captive to be effective, it must integrate risk management, collaboration and accountability to create a winning team.? When a captive program wins, the members are rewarded in the form of cost savings, better care for employees and leverage in the marketplace.

If you want your company to be on a winning team, I encourage you to evaluate your own draft status.? Are you a high draft pick or are you undraftable?