SB Howard & Company: Self-insuring offers flexibility in securing the future

By Janie Pritchett-Clark

SB Howard & Company provides benefits claims processing and adjusting services for self-insured companies. Known in the industry as a third party administrator, S.B Howard & Company has been in service in Northwest Arkansas for nearly 30 years. A third party administrator (TPA) is an organization that processes health claims. TPA’s handle claims processing traditionally handled by an insurance company. A self-funded (self-insured) company acts as its own carrier, undertaking its own risk and controlling its own benefits.

“Self-insuring your benefits is not for every company,” says Leesa Davis, owner of SB Howard & Company in Rogers. “It is good a fit for companies who have an exemplary concern for their employees’ benefits and a tenacious desire to control their expenditure in acquiring them.”

Why consider self-insurance?

“Being self-insured allows you to create benefits that are more suited to your specific group of employees,” explains Davis. “You’ll have a better understanding of what you are paying for – in detail. Your benefits can be specific or general, and reporting on use can be as detailed as needed. You will be able to adapt quickly to the marketplace, economics and staffing, and make changes that reflect those needs with immediacy. Your benefits evolve as your company evolves.

“Self-insurance is a risk,” Davis adds, “but one that can be calculated.” For many CEOs, CFOs or HR Directors considering the self-insured approach, detailing the right solution requires getting down to the nitty gritty of balancing risk with service.

The typical SB Howard client is a company of 150-plus employees and a human resource department continually saddled with the task of cutting health benefit costs. When CFOs realize, for example, that as a fully insured company they leave as much as $1 million on the table in three to five years, they often see how self-funded benefits can move them more adeptly into a secure future.

“That’s often how the conversation begins,” Davis explains. “It’s their money. They want control over how it’s spent and how well it’s spent.”

As a TPA, Davis and her team excel in providing an environment of integrity, accuracy and respect for every individual on their clients’ team. “Service is the only thing we sell,” she says. “Our service must add value to be of value.”

The challenge of employee and health care benefits today is in distilling the myriad of options and variables into a cost effective and care resplendent model both employer and employee can understand. In order for companies to seek and find the right solution, they need solid information and a sound strategy. They need a platform that is relevant and actionable for their employees.

The TPA is instrumental in defining that platform, but there are as many different methods as there are TPAs, Davis warns. To be effective, your TPA methodology needs to merge effortlessly into your accounting, so looking at how accounts are created will be essential – a good question to ask of any prospective firms.

“Be sure to ask about claims turnaround time, the number of dedicated processors and their degree of experience. Who will handle customer service, how and when it is available to your employees? How is the TPA revered among local providers and what relationships do they foster? What training do they provide clients and their employees? How are items reported and how often?” These are all important to the success of the TPA client relationship.

SB Howard & Company handles many aspects of employee benefit plans, including health, dental, vision, and Workers’ Compensation. Most employee benefit plans have highly technical aspects and specialized administration that make a TPA more cost effective than processing in house. At SB Howard & Company, a team of ten is dedicated to this service. Both the VP of Claims and VP of Workers’ Compensation have over 20 years experience in their field.

“The benefits solution doesn’t always have to be a decision of passing on costs or absorbing them,” says Davis. “Self-insuring is a way for employers to have a great deal of flexibility and control at the same time.”