Streamlining voluntary benefits billing is crucial for insurers who want to improve financial performance. Manual processes are time-consuming and prone to error, which leads to customer frustration.
Choosing the right voluntary billing software can significantly impact your organization’s efficiency, accuracy, and client satisfaction. If you’re searching for billing software to optimize efficiency and improve the overall experience, here are some voluntary benefits billing software features to seek:
Self-Administered Billing
For some voluntary benefits, insurers prefer the employer communicate the number of employees enrolled at each rate. This so-called self-administered billing can be easy to manage with the right system. For example, Certifi prepopulates data from the previous billing cycle, enabling employers to review and modify enrollment. The employer can also enter retroactive credit or debit adjustments. Then, the billing system generates an invoice that the employer can pay immediately.
That self-administered billing process simplifies billing for insurers as well as employers. It streamlines the billing process and is great for products that don’t require detailed employee enrollment data and/or have minimal claims.
Consolidated Billing
If you sell multiple insurance products to employers, they would prefer you deliver a single invoice showing all products. It simplifies the process so customers receive one invoice and make one payment regardless of the number of products.
Seek a solution to consolidate multiple products on one invoice while providing client-desired billing details. That may include line items for each employee covered or summarized information by product. Invoice detail flexibility is the key (more on that later).
Payment Portal
If you want quick payment, make it easy to pay. Payment portals deliver invoice and payment information to employers and enable auto-pay set up and one-time payment. Voluntary benefits billing software features to seek in a payment portal include:
- Billing and payment history – Show billing and payment history and any associated information, like PDFs of invoices, XLS of the invoice details, or data related to any payments.
- Mobile-friendly – Increasingly, web traffic is occurring on mobile devices. Ensure customers have a great experience regardless of the device by creating a mobile-friendly payment portal.
- Appropriate branding – My water utility uses a third-party payment portal to collect payment. When you click to make a payment, a popup opens. That popup takes the customer to a third-party payment portal. However, the portal has no water utility branding, which may prevent some customers from trusting the site to make a payment. If you use a third-party payment portal, ensure it includes your name, logo, colors, styles, etc.
- Single Sign-on (SSO) – Another tip: If you use a third-party payment portal, simplify the payment experience by leveraging single sign-on. Single sign-on ensures members don’t have to create a password to access your customer portal and another password to make a payment.
Invoice Format Flexibility
Invoice format flexibility is crucial when evaluating voluntary billing software solutions for several reasons stemming from the need to cater to diverse needs and maintain clear billing communication. Invoice flexibility helps:
- Meet client-specific requirements – Different employer clients may have different preferences or invoice requirements. Some might need detailed breakdowns for each employee, while others prefer summarized billing statements. Flexible software allows you to tailor invoices to meet these specific needs, ensuring client satisfaction and reducing the need for manual adjustments or workarounds.
- Enhance clarity and understanding – A well-formatted invoice is easy to read and understand, minimizing confusion and reducing the number of billing inquiries from customers. Flexibility enables information to be logically presented, highlighting due dates, payment amounts, and coverage details.
- Maintain branding – The ability to incorporate company logos, colors, and fonts helps maintain a consistent brand identity across all communications, including invoices.
- Streamline reporting – Flexible invoice formats can facilitate easy data mapping and integration with accounting and payroll systems.
Integration Capabilities
Integration capabilities are essential when choosing voluntary billing software. Here’s a breakdown of why seamless integration is so important:
- Eliminates manual data entry while reducing errors – By integrating with upstream enrollment platforms or downstream general ledgers, you can eliminate the need for manual data entry, which is prone to errors and can lead to inaccurate billing, frustrated employees and customers, and time-consuming corrections.
- Improves Billing Efficiency – Integration automates key billing processes to reduce processing time while freeing staff to focus on other tasks.
- Enhances Data Accuracy – Integration ensures consistent data across all systems, eliminating discrepancies and improving data accuracy.
- Improves Reporting and Analytics – Integration enables the generation of more detailed reports, which can track key metrics, identify trends, and make informed business decisions.
- Reduces Administrative Costs – Automation reduces the need for manual data entry and processing, which can significantly reduce labor costs.
Automated Retroactive Adjustments
Some enrollment changes might require retroactive adjustments, such as:
- Enrollment changes or cancellations with effective dates in the past
- Changes in coverage levels or benefit options
- Premium rate changes applied retroactively
Solutions that can automate those retroactive adjustments will:
- Reduce manual effort and save time: Automation minimizes the need for manual calculations and data entry, freeing up staff for other tasks.
- Improve accuracy and reduce errors: Automated calculations limit the risk of human error, ensuring that adjustments are processed accurately.
- Improve employee and employer satisfaction: Clear communication and accurate processing of adjustments can minimize confusion and frustration.
Certifi’s premium billing and payment solutions help voluntary insurers automate billing and payment processes to reduce administrative costs.
