Prepare yourself for the feeding frenzy.
That is, at least, the advice provided by one managed care organization expert when asked what employers should do in advance of the MCO open enrollment period, which is scheduled to start May 3 and run through May 28. The open enrollment period will be the only time during the next two years that MCOs will be able to market themselves to employers as the ideal conduit to provide medical case management and as the perfect organization to provide support and guidance in the wake of workers’ compensation claims. That means that representatives from each of the almost two dozen major Ohio MCOs will knock on your door, arrive in your waiting area, dial your phone, mail plenty of direct correspondence to your offices and, in general, make themselves as prominent as possible to you during what amounts to the busiest four weeks of their biennial.
The open enrollment period is their Super Bowl, their sweeps week, their holiday shopping spree, all rolled into days and weeks and one furious month of work.
And, yes, at times, it might appear to be a feeding frenzy. At least in the figurative sense of the term.
"This is a very short amount of time," says Karen Conger, CEO, Ohio Employee Health Partnership. "That’s why, all of a sudden, it might appear we have all lost our minds."
If you’re satisfied with the recent performance of your MCO, there’s no law that says you are required to switch now. Indeed, if you are satisfied, make that clear to other MCOs as early as possible during the process. Heck, you might as well stop reading now. No reason to busy yourself if the next month will be business as usual.
But if you do want to switch providers – or even if you think you might want to switch providers – there are steps to take to ensure the process moves along as smoothly as possible and leaves you and your business happy with your decision.
"Even if an employer believes they’re satisfied or is comfortable with what their MCO has been doing, it still is important that they objectively evaluate how their MCO compares to other MCOs in terms of performance," says Richard J. Poach, president and COO, CareWorks. "They may be perfectly happy, but they may be able to get something better at no additional cost."
