A good health insurance plan or hearing care partner is mostly defined by the additional value it provides. Most plans will include a specific level of health care, the best plans will go the extra mile. The same can be said for hearing coverage. For your members, out of pocket cost is an important consideration in the coverage, as well as the type of products offered. Coverage for both adult and children dependents should be part of the overall plan design.
By choosing or updating your organization’s hearing benefit carefully, you can achieve the ideal level of coverage for the organization and membership. Here are a few important factors when selecting a hearing health care partner.
Credentialing
NCQA -compliant credentialing of hearing healthcare practitioners support a potential partner’s commitment to the highest standards of quality patient care.
A skilled, highly trained call center
A hearing health care partner with an efficient contact center can engage with your members, answer questions about the benefit, connect members with local providers and ensure your members are receiving the services they need. Skilled representatives perform to uniform service levels and standards.
A centralized billing system
Billing for services and products is time-consuming and complex. Centralized, electronic billing frees you from all the details that come with billing, like acquiring a tax identification number for each provider, managing multiple contracts and selecting the appropriate medical codes for hearing evaluations and hearing aids. Be sure to evaluate the hearing care partner’s electronic billing abilities and if they can accommodate increasingly used electronic funds transfer (EFT) and electronic data interchange (EDI) transactions.
Subject matter expertise
Along with the convenience of a single vendor and centralized billing, you gain the subject matter expertise of a knowledgeable partner to guide you through matters pertaining to benefit design, utilization review, quality management, customer service, grievances, and marketing. A trusted partner can help you make important decisions regarding the positioning of your hearing benefit in your market.
Nationwide provider network
National coverage means your members will have local access to a licensed provider. Having qualified care in their own community is important to your members, and choice of providers that dispense multiple brands provides them with options.
Flexible program configuration
Each health plan, union or employer has a unique set of requirements and preferences. A great hearing partner is able to configure the hearing benefit to match the Organization and membership needs.
Compliance
In today’s regulatory environment, you need a partner you can trust. From HIPAA to FWA and other privacy and security matters, look for a company that is committed to protecting the safety and integrity of your data.
The ability to be proactive
A good partner provides more than just a hearing care benefit. A good hearing partner provides education, marketing support, hearing loss prevention tips, as well as early intervention by participating in health fairs, developing consumer education materials and supporting other awareness activities and events.
Bottom line, when selecting hearing benefits, it’s important to choose a partner that can offer a nationwide provider network, excellent customer service support, plan designs that are tailored to your member needs and be flexible for the needs of your organization.