Doug Short, CEO, BeniComp Health Solutions
Doug Short, CEO of BeniComp Health Solutions, talked to Invest: about the state of healthcare services and how the insurance industry is poised to adapt to revolutionary changes that are sure to transform it, particularly through advancements in predictive and preventative medicine.
What is your overview of Tampa’s healthcare sector, and where is the industry heading?
BeniComp has been an innovator in the healthcare sector for 63 years. BeniComp is licensed as a national fiduciary in all 50 states, which is basically a high-powered third-party administrator of medical claims. But where others only pay claims, BeniComp prides itself on predicting and preventing claims.
Armed with proprietary, patent-pending products, BeniComp has the power to predict and prevent claims and promote specific/personalized lifestyle improvements to slow or avoid claims by attacking their cause. As a national fiduciary, BeniComp has reimagined itself at the center of Trump’s national healthcare revolution and chosen Tampa Bay as its National Executive Center.
Tampa is unique in the country in having stable employer-centric politics and conservative values in an environment where lifestyle and outdoor living is on display every day. BeniComp will use Florida’s fertile business soil as its garden in creating the nation’s first lifestyle-rewarded health insurance plan.
Paying claims is expected, but predicting and preventing claims is what makes us special. All brokers will offer employers a renewal quote, where BeniComp can offer a solution. All other health plans will focus on the cost of a claim, while BeniComp has the technology and licenses to focus on the cause of the claim.
Domiciled in Indiana for six decades, BeniComp focused on bringing this future technology and preventive controls to all healthcare claims nationally and needed a national headquarters location for the IncentiCare product. BeniComp chose Tampa Bay to anchor this endeavor. Our executive center is in the heart of downtown Tampa, where we are minutes from a world-class airport, blocks from the convention center and impressive hotels, but in a destination-location that clients want an excuse to come to.
Today, BeniComp’s IncentiCare strategy is the first policy in America to be completely integrated to pay claims efficiently, but to attack the root cause of future claims.
What differentiates BeniComp from the way your competitors operate?
Many third-party administrators focus only on paying claims without a focus on predicting or preventing future losses. Being involved in the future claim is not without challenge, but the value to your plan or the lives that can be saved is untold. BeniComp has invested in this with in-house clinical staff and full-time coaches, which supplements historical claims paying staff.
Administrators and agents have long sought to lower the costs of processing claims, while BeniComp will also focus on predicting or preventing them.
Inside an insurance policy, about 10% of the cost is administration, while the actual claim represents about 90% of the cost. Historically, administrators or agents have tried to fight and argue for the reductions in this 10%, where BeniComp will provide all the cost-effective strategies for these costs, but BeniComp has the ability to lower the 90% cost of claims.
Also, many claims administrators have merged or sold out over the last 10 years in an attempt to leverage their unit cost of production, but they instead have traded their entrepreneurial, solution-finding vision for volume production processing unit costs. Many have used offshoring of their staff or automation to reduce the unit cost of processing a claim with no vision for what caused the claim.
With our vibrant, next-generation leadership in place for the past 10 years, they can focus on innovation and solutions, rather than just cheaper offshoring of staff.
BeniComp has the history, the vision, and the depth of cash flow to focus on the future of healthcare, where others might try to promote cheaper staff or fancy websites.
What makes Tampa Bay such a thriving location for BeniComp’s operations?
Tampa Bay represents a lifestyle-centric location, but we would be remiss to discount the value of conservative, makes-sense politics. Tampa is also in the Eastern time zone, with large and growing direct flights to most hubs. It’s also interesting to note that Tampa’s several airports even feature discounted airlines, like Allegiant or Spirit, which feature smaller market destinations. This was exactly the complement BeniComp needed since their Home Office is in Fort Wayne, Indiana. During COVID, we saw a massive influx of people who could choose wherever they wanted to live and work from home, and they chose Tampa. It doesn’t hurt that “Champa-Bay” is a destination location with best-in-class sports, great cruise or theater options, and beaches.
What are BeniComp’s top priorities for the next few years?
Driving a national initiative while we remain cash flow independent is a delicate dance. Focusing on the present, while investing in the future, is not for the faint of heart. IncentiCare, as a product, was invented in 2004, perfected for the last 20-plus years, but still focused on the initial vision to predict, prevent, and reward the right choices, all to revolutionize healthcare in America.
