Small Town to Big Time: BMI Becomes National Leader in Claims Administration through Technology and Hometown Service

BMI Leadership – The administrative group that leads BMI are left to right, Mike Minton, vice president of sales and marketing;  Connie Remmert, vice president of  compliance and communications;  Chad Somers, vice president and general manager; and Dennis Call, president.

There’s no metropolitan business advantage for Benefit Management Inc., located in Great Bend, so the company turned a disadvantage into a different advantage. Instead of relying on big-city status and a cookie-cutter approach to running his third party claims administrator business, founder and co-owner Dennis Call relied on bringing hometown service to customers nationwide.

BMI brings its small-town advantage to business doorsteps across the nation with its well-trained, knowledgeable staff that is equipped with the latest computer technology and expertise so that it offers best product for the money in the TPA insurance industry. It’s a formula that mixes cutting-edge technology with good old fashioned customer service.

“We sell the fact that we are in Great Bend, we have long-time employees, we are a good employer, we are dedicated,” Call said. “We also have an incredibly good software program. BMI is state-of-the-art, top-of-the-line with its technology in serving customers with claims payment and in other areas.”

On Call – As president of Benefit Management Inc., Dennis Call has grown the business by stressing personal commitment to community and customers across the nation. Call notes that BMI collaborates with customers as partners to find the best healthcare plan. Its services can be tailored to small, medium, or large businesses and organizations, with turnkey health-plan management for employees.

BMI’s formula for success is a proven winner. Call turned a small local insurance company into a TPA industry leader. BMI Inc., 2015 16th, opened in 1995 with Call, another full-timer and one part-timer, and today it employs 70 people; 63 are in Great Bend, five in Wichita and two in Kansas City.

BMI provides customized health-benefits administration programs to self-insured companies, association plans and state high-risk pools all over the country, Call outlined. Local and area customers include large employers such as school districts, Barton County Community College and CPI; it also offers products for smaller entities. But BMI is all over the United States representing large and small companies alike in places like New Hampshire, Alabama, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska, as well as Kansas. It administers benefits for about 45,000 members nationwide.

It’s a remarkable accomplishment considering Call started his career with a bachelor’s degree in education and taught business-related courses at West High in Wichita. That lasted one school year, 1971-72.

“As I was teaching courses about salesmanship and business, I was thinking I wanted to be in business for myself,” Call said. He began his insurance career with Prudential at Wichita and was there for six years.

“In the course of talking to people, building business relationships and driving back and forth between Great Bend and Wichita, I had an opportunity here to buy into Insurance Unlimited,” Call explained. “I pulled that trigger in May 1978 and have been here ever since.”

That experience led to the 1990 opening of Call Insurance, which was located in the 3100 bock of 10th.

Clear Direction – Managers who run the various departments at BMI are left to right, Sharon Manning, state pool premium billing and enrollment manager; Stacie McMullen, digital archiving manager; Kelli Gerstenkorn, commercial claims manager,  Heather Miessler, vice president claims operation; Judy Johnson, WSHIP account manager; and Donna Howel, pool operations Manager.  Missing from the photo are Rachael Cell, technical operations manager;  Marsha Miller, commercial billing supervisor, and Debbie McCormick , risk pool account manager.

“I was working with third-party administrators (TPAs) in Kansas City and Omaha,” Call said. “In the back of my mind, I thought I should do this. I could do my own TPA. In 1995 I finally reconciled myself to the idea and BMI started.

BMI’s location in a non-metropolitan area forced it to work harder to earn clients in other areas of the country, but overcoming that stereotype “has paved the way to make BMI a better company,” Call said.

The benefits of a TPA are lower fixed costs, better reporting, plan flexibility and claims administration, including disease management and wellness. The company’s partially self-funded plans offer an alternative to traditional health-insurance coverage, Call pointed out.

“It allows you to budget for small, predictable claims while protecting the group against unpredictable catastrophic claims,” he explained. “This is done through the purchase of stop-loss protection.”

All these features are important, Call noted, but he emphasized disease management and wellness.

“When you reach age 55, you can’t take a magic pill and be better again,” Call said. “So our medical plan encourages wellness, such as through smoking-cessation classes.

“We can measure these results,” he continued. “If we have 100 diabetics, we can measure gaps in their care. If they are supposed to be doing 10 things, but we know they are doing only six of them, they are not taking care of themselves. We can then talk to them.

“We are talking about being overweight, having high blood pressure, having diabetes. Some people have never had a claim in their lives but they will wake up some morning and explode. We can help them with good information and by understanding their group.”

High Tech – Left to right James Cell, IT Assistant, Karla Esmiller, database report specialist, and Michelle Kaiser, IT manager. BMI is equipped with a state-of-the-art database to carry out its claims service for customers.

The growth of BMI over the last 13 years has surprised Call, whose title is president. But the results indicate he probably followed his own business advice.

“You need to understand your product, understand your market,” Call said. “And I know it sounds corny, but you have to have a passion for it. There are lots of ups and downs in the long run. This is no get-rich-quick deal. Businesses fail because of under-capitalization and no passion.”

Call credits involvement in state high-risk pools as one of the bigger reasons for BMI’s success.

“What happened was, in 2000 we got the Kansas High-Risk Pool contract,” Call said. “These are individuals who come to us. We guarantee access to health insurance. This is not inexpensive. We can’t guarantee affordability but we can guarantee access. Many are 64 and not eligible for Medicare yet.”

This Kansas contract led to similar ones in Alaska, Washington, Iowa, New Hampshire and Oklahoma. “We wrote one contract and parlayed that into six. No other TPA has more risk pools in the nation. This gives us credibility. After 13 years, we have earned some respect throughout the state and the country.”

In this high-risk role, BMI is under the authority of the Kansas Insurance Department, which shines “the brightest light and the highest-powered microscope on us,” Call said.

Call also noted that BMI is unique because it sells local ownership. Most TPAs are large national groups that are detached from their customers.

“We will always talk to people face to face,” Call adds. “That’s what we promote. You can talk to the person who cut the claim check if you want. We try to make ourselves available. BMI helps customers understand real-world scenarios based upon information in the insurance market.”

For example, Call points out, each client is assigned its own claims examiner and customer-service representative. These BMI employees are directly familiar with the client’s needs, benefit package and claims history.

“Our employees develop a relationship with each client to ensure the needs of the employer, employee and provider are met,” Call said. “From start to finish, BMI offers ongoing customer service, continuous training and prompt assistance.”

Chad Somers, BMI general manager, has part ownership in the company, and Call said he relies on him for managing various segments of the business.

“Chad is everything I am not,” Call said. “He is the technical, computer whiz. I am the salesman. He keeps things running internally.”

http://www.bmikansas.com