Practice management

Nearly half of newly insured Americans signed up for coverage off the ACA’s public marketplaces and benefit advisers have several theories as to why.

Brokers may be the best intermediary to communicate a matter of pediatric dental compliance to employers and medical carriers operating in numerous states as regulations shift.

Top down management support is a prerequisite for any change in the obsessive email behavior that’s damaging our collective well-being and impairing our ability to focus, writes Shani Magosky.

Commentary: Blogger John Graham says to doubt everything you do with marketing. Then, follow these tips to revamp the way you take care of clients.

Taking an entirely generic approach to health plan communications is no longer a winning strategy. Personalized communications that offer a holistic look at plan benefits will do more to engage participants.

Commentary: Advisers should know about options for employers to get help in the ever-changing regulatory environment.

Viewpoint: The advising business can be deeply personal when it comes to engagement with clients, says one industry communications professional. Here are some tips to strengthen those ties.

It’s no surprise Americans are tired. That’s why benefit advisers working with employers to build a wellness program should not ignore sleep solutions.

As employers begin to look at private exchanges as a means to provide health care benefits to their active employee population questions are being raised about potential conflicts of interest for consulting firms that also act as exchange purveyors.

Commentary: Clients with fewer than 50 employees face skyrocketing premium rates this year and next. Columnist Nelson Griswold has a solution.

As more large brokerages seem to be opening their own platforms, one company wants to provide a means for the smaller independent agent to have a branded, customized private exchange, too.

Commentary: Sebelius was in an “unwinnable position," according to the former head of sales and marketing at Covered California, Michael Lujan. The former insurance agent writes that more engagement with the benefits industry would have behooved the troubled health secretary.

As new social media platforms arise, there are more opportunities for brokers to act as ‘trusted advisers.'

At a legislative conference for the Big “I” agent advocacy group in Washington on Thursday, the ACA was noticeably missing from everything from legislators’ talks to the group’s lobbying agenda for the year.

While many companies are reaping benefits from outsourcing their benefits management, recent media reports have indicated that companies that have opted to limit or entirely scale back their HR departments in favor of cost or other reasons may be limiting their organization’s potential.

Commentary: A written business plan is important to thrive in the changing benefits landscape, says columnist Jack Kwicien. Here are some of the uses for such a document.

Recruitment techniques – aimed at promoting a diverse workforce – have maintained a high stature among the HR professionals, where more than half report using these strategies, according to a new survey from the Society for Human Resource Management.

The ACA's first open enrollment period presented some expected — and some out-of-the-blue — challenges for carriers, agents and others tasked with enrolling millions of individuals on the health insurance exchanges. Those challenges should serve as lessons and preparation exercises for the next open enrollment, several industry experts advise.

The ability for staff to incorporate innovative new ideas that bring changes to dilapidated processes can only be fostered in a workplace that allows for an open communicative culture across organizational lines.

Incentives or disincentives? Carrot or stick? The answer: it depends…