Benefits Survey

Lynne Desrochers · February 19, 2015, 04:03:34 PM

We want to create a survey for one of our clients, before they make a switch on healthcare carriers they want to survey the employees as to who their network doctors are. Has anyone come up with a good way to do this, or have some program they've used? The client will not have their employees go to the website and look up the doctors.
I feel like there should be something out there to help accomplish this.
Thoughts?
Thank you.

Jeff Golas · February 19, 2015, 04:12:36 PM

Tons of Survey tools like SurveyMonkey, Zoomerang (I think), Constant Contact, etc. We've used I believe all 3 of these and all have their pros and cons. We used Constant Contact for some things since we already had an account with them.

Mark · February 19, 2015, 04:19:41 PM

Google forms could possibly be used too, depending on how the survey is done.

Sherry Burrell · February 19, 2015, 04:24:06 PM

I would make sure you are violating any HIPAA regs though. If they are seeing any specialists, you can infer what their health issues are.

Mark · February 19, 2015, 04:25:59 PM

Quote from: Sherry Burrell on February 19, 2015, 04:24:06 PM
I would make sure you are NOT violating any HIPAA regs though. If they are seeing any specialists, you can infer what their health issues are.

Good call. If it is an anonymous survey, I wonder if it makes a difference.

Sherry Burrell · February 20, 2015, 10:03:16 AM

Thanks for the "NOT" Mark! Makes a big difference!

Mark · February 20, 2015, 10:25:40 AM

Quote from: Sherry Burrell on February 20, 2015, 10:03:16 AM
Thanks for the "NOT" Mark! Makes a big difference!

Jan Regnier · February 20, 2015, 10:59:39 AM

I would encourage the client to let the employees know WHAT network they are looking at and let the employees CALL their Dr's/facilities to confirm they are or are not in that network. I would not put the responsibility for that info on the agency. We do look up that info occasionally for a client but I ALWAYS recommend they contact that particular entity to confirm they are STILL in the network. We have had an incident where a client relied on info online and between the time they got that info and then actually had a Dr visit - that doctor had withdrawn for that network. Most sure way of getting a correct answer is to call....and - imo - that should be the employee's responsibility.

Lynne Desrochers · February 20, 2015, 11:51:24 AM

Thanks everyone! Jan, I totally agree with you that it should be their responsibility to get this done. I'm just trying to help the Account Executive. I see a bunch of issues with our doing it, we just want to help the client put something in place.
I appreciate the input.

Jan Regnier · February 20, 2015, 12:22:11 PM

Quote from: Lynne Desrochers on February 20, 2015, 11:51:24 AM
Thanks everyone! Jan, I totally agree with you that it should be their responsibility to get this done. I'm just trying to help the Account Executive. I see a bunch of issues with our doing it, we just want to help the client put something in place.
I appreciate the input.

I think the biggest issue in "helping the client" is the burden the govt has put on us. They have taken away our ability to service our clients in a way that the client WANTS our help. As was mentioned, the agency needs to be very aware of HIPAA regulations that would come in to play if you offer "help" in this area. It only takes one disgruntled employee to cause major legal and financial issues for an agency.

Jim Jensen · February 20, 2015, 02:44:51 PM

also need to be very specific about the network. Since PPACA went into full force 1/1/14, some companies have new networks that differ from their legacy networks that still use on older in-force policies.