CAMBRIDGE INTEGRATED SERVICES
Situation
University of Maine System has used a third-party administrator (TPA) to manage its workers’ compensation for many years. When University System Risk Manager Edward Nobles learned that the university’s long-time TPA would no longer be providing the services it required – and that Cambridge Integrated Services would be taking over all the company’s claims administration – he had some initial concerns.
The complexity of the university’s claims system made transitioning from one TPA to another a risk. University of Maine System relied on its previous provider to make sure all of its workers’ compensation and disability claims were routed through a central in-take center to the right parties for quick and accurate resolution; short-term disability claims were processed by an insurance provider, while the TPA processed workers’ compensation claims.
“Working with a new TPA would be challenging, as it would have to integrate our system with their own while also requiring them to handle not only our active claims, but also new ones filed during the transition,” Nobles says. “Maintaining continuity-of-service was vital.”
Solution
Even though Cambridge had acquired University of Maine System’s business through a contract with the school’s previous TPA, the company had to go through a formal process to retain the account. Cecilia Carroll, Account Executive, worked as part of Cambridge’s implementation team to put together a proposal that would assuage any concerns.
“Because we knew that changing TPAs with active claims in process is a difficult transition for any client, we wanted to ensure seamless integration of our services,” Carroll said. We also proposed hiring staff who had worked on the university’s account with the previous TPA, so that we would provide a familiarity with their needs.
Additionally, Cambridge developed best practices and measurement protocols that would deliver service the university had never before experienced. “We increased the value of Cambridge’s services by offering high level data for financial trending and benchmarking to the university system as well as a focus to claim data for program management and prevention activities , Donna Romano-Gardner, Vice President, Client Services explains. “ The claim data can be drilled down to Campus and department levels to pinpoint cost drivers for each campus to manage their occupational injury costs and loss prevention. ” These tools would enable the university’s risk management and human resources departments to use our data in unprecedented ways.
Results
Nobles said Cambridge’s implementation proposal and formal presentation “wowed” his team, and as a result, Cambridge was awarded the program. Since then, he says, Cambridge continues to go beyond expectations.
“The integration was truly seamless; there was minimal interruption of services,” Nobles said. Cambridge has found new opportunities to expand and innovate the ways we receive our information through their web technology. “Thanks to Cambridge, these features offer the University a library of customized reports that return real time program information.”
Carroll has worked side-by-side with university of Maine System from the beginning to ensure that Cambridge’s outcomes measurement program and reporting structure provides the university with new perspectives that made its internal processes more efficient.
Cambridge presented a high-level overview of the university’s program to the university’s administration. The response was overwhelmingly positive. The University of Maine System is very pleased with the service and results they’ve received from Cambridge.
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