The rockefeller university

by ZACH VEILLEUX

The Rockefeller University has chosen CoreSource, Inc., a national administrator of self-funded health insurance plans, to replace The Principal Financial Group as the university’s third-party benefits administrator. The change in providers, which was effective as of January 1, 2011, means a new team will process claims for Rockefeller employees covered by the self-funded Rockefeller health plan and those who have dental insurance or flexible spending accounts. There are no changes to the terms of the policies themselves and Oxford plans are not affected.

CoreSource, which has its headquarters in Chicago but maintains regional offices throughout the country, serves about 700 mostly small and mid-sized organizations with a total of around 1.4 million employees, somewhat more than Principal’s 840,000. In 2009 it processed approximately $3 billion in claims.

The change in providers was precipitated by Principal’s announcement in September 2010 that it would exit the health insurance business. “Although we had been pleased with Principal, their decision to stop operating as a benefits administrator required us to look for a new vendor,” says Virginia Huffman, vice president for human resources. “We decided to do it sooner rather than later out of concern that Principal’s service might suffer as their business begins to wind down.” Principal has been the university’s claims administrator since January 2008.

In evaluating new third-party administrators, Human Resources followed the same course that led them to Principal three years ago. With guidance from a benefits consulting firm, Mercer, they identified a short list of firms that met the university’s basic criteria, including the ability to work with the existing Aetna and Weill-Cornell networks. They then evaluated each company, meeting with key personnel and checking references.

“The goal was to find a company that will process our claims quickly and accurately, but also one that has experience working with medical communities, in which plan participants often have extensive knowledge of their treatment options,” says Ms. Huffman. “After meeting with the entire team of claims processors and speaking with several of their clients, we’re confident that CoreSource is well equipped to serve our unique needs.”

CoreSource offers several convenient features that Principal did not, including the option to have health and dental claim reimbursements sent via direct deposit, the addition of a dental network offering discounted rates, and access to an online “Health Center” where members can access stored medical files and diagnose common symptoms online. Like Principal, CoreSource uses CVS/Caremark for prescription management.