Flashes

Enrollment Time for College Extended Network Program

June 5, 2018

It’s time for your employees interested in the College Extended Network Program to sign up or renew their dependents’ participation for the 2018–19 school year.

The College Extended Network Program is available for dependent children who leave our service area for 90 consecutive days or more to attend a college, university, technical school, or vocational school. They’ll have access to in-network care through the national PHCS Healthy Directions and Multiplan networks while at school for no additional cost. Review our previous flash for more details.

Please note that retrospective participation in the program is not allowed. Participation will start August 1 for those who submit forms before the academic school year begins. Otherwise, participation will be effective the first day of the following month after we receive the student verification form.

The College Extended Network Program is automatically included for fully insured small and large groups for no additional fee. Self-funded groups can choose to add the program for no administrative fee. An additional cost for use of the MultiPlan network will apply. Self-funded groups who are interested in opting in to the program should contact their client consultants.

To sign up or renew a dependent’s participation in the program, an employee must send a student verification form to us. The form is posted on Your Health Alliance for employers.

Health Alliance
Attn: Enrollment
3310 Fields South Drive
Champaign, IL 61822

If you receive verification forms from your employees, please send them to us as soon as you can or ask the employees to do so. Again, we do not allow retrospective coverage.

We’re sending letters to previously enrolled employees to let them know it’s time to renew their dependents’ participation in the program. If a dependent will no longer be attending school outside of our service area, employees don’t need to do anything. Their participation in the program will automatically end, and we will send a new ID card for the dependent to use in the standard Health Alliance network.

If you have questions, contact your client consultant. Employees should call the customer service number on the back of their ID cards with questions.

New Features in Health Alliance Mobile App

May 8, 2018

We’ve released updates to our mobile app for members in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. The updates allow members to:

  • Switch between their and their dependents’ plan information and ID cards
  • Set up and view vision and dental benefits on the Benefits screen if enrolled
  • Switch between plan details of vision and dental accounts
  • View the extended college network on Provider Search if using that program
  • See care coordination phone numbers in the Contact section

Our app team continues to add features and make improvements. One function currently available on the website that will be added to the mobile app soon are accumulators. These will allow members to see how much they have left to spend before meeting their deductibles or out-of-pocket maximums—and make informed decisions about when to have a treatment or procedure. Watch for an update on accumulators this summer.

Please let your employees know about the app and how it makes it easier for them to use their plan. To learn more, go to HealthAlliance.org/App. If you have questions, contact your client consultant.

App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google LLC.

Care Coordination Team Works Weekend Hours

May 2, 2018

Our goal is to make sure our members’ needs are being met, even outside of regular business hours. To help us achieve that, some of our care coordinators work Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. CT, and they may call members during that time. We know some people might find it unusual to receive a call from us over the weekend, so we wanted to let you know about these extended hours.

If you have any questions, please contact your client consultant.

BPC Purchased by Ascensus

May 2, 2018

Benefit Planning Consultants, Inc. (BPC) was recently purchased by Ascensus, a technology-enabled solutions provider. BPC provides many services related to our plans, like COBRA continuation coverage notices and administration of health savings accounts, health reimbursement accounts and flexible spending accounts.

We do not expect this acquisition to change how we work with BPC in any way. Ascensus will allow them to work independently, keep all employees and remain based in Champaign. BPC believes this change will give them more opportunity for collaboration.

“At BPC, we’ve always said that we’re small enough to care and large enough to do the job right,” said Habeeb Habeeb, BPC’s president and chief executive officer. “We’ll continue to maintain that mentality as part of Ascensus, taking advantage of our combined resources so that we can continue to bring passion to our work while placing a high value on our relationships with clients and partners. Our clients and partners will continue working with the same BPC team as they have been in the past with no changes. It’s business as usual, and we look forward to continuing to serve you.”

If you have any questions, please contact your client consultant.

New Client Support Phone Numbers

May 2, 2018

We recently moved to the new Carle at The Fields office in Champaign, and our phone numbers have changed. Starting today, you can reach the Client Support team at 217-902-8151 or 1-800-851-3379, ext. 28151. Health Alliance’s physical and mailing address is now 3310 Fields South Drive, Champaign, IL 61822.

Please contact your client consultant with any questions.