Governing for Results 13 - Washington State Digital Archives

Health Care Authority
PEBB Online Form Pilot = Big Success
The Health Care Authority (HCA) Public Employees Benefits Board (PEBB)
program relies heavily on telephone and paper documents as its main contact
with customers. During the annual open enrollment period, PEBB staff receives
10 times as many phone calls compared to other months, from about 20,000
families who wish to make account changes or who have questions about their
coverage. The PEBB also receives thousands of enrollment change forms from
members interested in making account changes.
During last year’s open enrollment period, public employees who were interested
in making PEBB account changes were required to obtain an enrollment/change
form from their payroll/benefits office, complete the form and then return it to their
payroll/benefits office. Payroll/benefits staff then keyed the changes into the
insurance eligibility system. Additionally, due to increased workloads during the
open enrollment period, it is often difficult for customers to get through to a
benefits specialist via telephone. A prompt response to members’ inquiries is a
high priority for the HCA.
Results
★ An online form was developed, piloted and implemented on the HCA Website
for 2001 Open enrollment.
★ Customers had immediate access to account information and allowed all
employees to change their medical and dental plans during open enrollment,
24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
★ Over 38%, or 4,438 out of 11,687 changes were made using the online form,
compared to anticipated 10 percent.
★ More than 12,000 individual subscribers from 98 agencies accessed the site.
★ Paper forms require an average 8 minutes for a payroll/benefits employee to
review and process. The online form saved 592 hours.
Team Name: PEBB Open Enrollment Improvement Team
Team Members: Beau Bergeron, Lonnie Budd, Michelle George, MaryAnne
Lindeblad, Mich'l Needham, Tom Neitzel, Pam Powers, Romeo Solis, Dave
Wasser, Department of Personnel: Dionna Klotz
CONTACT: Tom Neitze, (360) 923-2848
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