CCIG

The current employee benefits arena is brimming with innovative programs, which makes it tricky for employers to find the benefits that best-suit their culture and overall business objectives. Without an expertise-backed decisionmaking process, employees may end up not utilizing the complete advantage of the benefit services.

“CCIG mitigates this challenge through a customized approach to benefits that prioritizes transparency, flexibility, and aligning benefits with the unique goals of their clients. Instead of focusing on deductibles and copays, we help them establish a brand driven by benefits that embody their company culture,” says Mike Burch, vice president.

Fundamentally, there are two approaches to benefits—the carriercontrolled model and client-controlled model. The carrier-controlled model bundles all typical benefits plan services, from the pharmacy and claims adjudication to re- and stop-loss insurance. CCIG addresses the limited data transparency prevalent when implementing this model using a designbuild method that essentially shifts control from the carrier to the employer. This enables employers to leverage enhanced clarity and flexibility to work with best-in-class partners that provide the desired white-glove service.

According to Executive Vice President Rich Hejny, CCIG profoundly understands the businesses and goals of clients, identifying whether they want to optimize cost-effectiveness, recruitment, or talent retention, before making any recommendations. It also aligns their financial and HR personnel to holistically recognize prevalent demands and build programs to fulfill them.

Showcasing CCIG’s prowess is an instance where it assisted a client with a 200-strong workforce experiencing back-to-back 20 percent increases on their fully insured health plan, leading to approximately $2.2 million in costs. Over the first two years of the partnership, CCIG stripped the existing program and built a new one from the ground up, driving savings of up to $2.8 million while accommodating the growing employee population.

It also identified a significant decrease in costs on pharmacy spend.

Before it took over, the client’s pharmacy expenses were about $1 million for 200 employees. Over the next two years, CCIG’s support aided them in shrinking their pharmacy spending despite doubling the workforce, averaging about $350,000. It is essential to note that the savings CCIG ignites are not achieved through recommending lower-cost medicine or placing restrictions on certain medications but by purchasing prescribed drugs more efficiently and passing the first fruits of savings back onto employees.

“We’ve achieved these savings using various programs, such as international sourcing and patient assistance programs. By doing so, we take drugs that typically cost $5,000 or $6,000 a month and potentially bring that down to zero or $2,000 a month,” states Taylor Rogers, Executive Vice President.

CCIG also waives cost-sharing to incentivize employees to participate in different programs. Employers can drive considerable cost savings through this approach while employees can minimize out-of-pocket expenses.

Instead of focusing on deductibles and copays, CCIG seeks to help clients establish a brand driven by benefits that embody their company culture

Integral to CCIG’s success is its commitment to data-driven decisionmaking, which involves continuously gathering and analyzing metrics related to healthcare service utilization, wellness benefits, claims per employee per month, and pharmacy spending. In addition, its financial analytics team works diligently to create a narrative from this data, enabling CCIG to relay ongoing communication on employee performance and opportunities for improvement to all relevant stakeholders.

Driven by its collaborative efforts and emphasis on building a benefitsdriven organizational brand, CCIG aims to create stronger partnerships that can boost business growth and improvement and drive long-term success.