As we head into open enrollment, how would you rate your preparedness? Is your company’s strategy traditional, best-in-class or future-ready? We see a lot of third-party administrators (TPAs) landing in the traditional column, with potential for best-in-class and future-ready strategies. By getting more involved in open-enrollment strategies, plan design and adoption, you can achieve a future-ready program.

Consider the range below, and think about where you might fall.

In a traditional open-enrollment model, TPAs act primarily as administrators, focusing on processing enrollments and maintaining compliance. Their role is reactive, with little strategic input into plan design or employee education.

Key challenges include:

• Lack of strategic involvement: TPAs are not engaged in benefit design discussions, missing opportunities to optimize plan adoption.
• Minimal employee education: Communication is limited to open enrollment, leading to confusion and underutilized benefits.
• Missed plan optimization: Without guidance on bundling strategies or contribution models, employers and employees fail to maximize savings.
• This results in stagnant participation rates and a lack of differentiation in an increasingly competitive benefits landscape.

Best-in-class TPAs go beyond administration, taking on a consultative role to enhance open-enrollment success. They work proactively with employers and employees to drive engagement and optimize plan design.

Key improvements include:

• Strategic plan-design input: TPAs collaborate on contribution models and bundling strategies to maximize participation.
• Year-round employee education: Multi-touch communication ensures employees understand and utilize their benefits.
• Personalized and targeted messaging: Segmentation enables tailored outreach, increasing adoption of HSAs and FSAs.
• Simplified enrollment experience: Clear guidance and user-friendly tools make decision-making easier.

To move beyond best-in-class and become future-ready, TPAs can implement several advanced strategies:

• Clear ownership: Establishing dedicated teams or individuals responsible for overseeing the open-enrollment process ensures accountability and streamlined operations.
• Aggressive multi-year HSA seeding strategy: Implementing proactive health savings account (HSA) funding plans over multiple years encourages employee participation and demonstrates a commitment to their financial well-being.
• Segmentation and personalization: Tailoring communication and plan options to different employee segments based on demographics, health needs or preferences enhances engagement and satisfaction.

In order to be considered a best-in-class open-enrollment function and continue to have success in the future, TPAs must have a seat at the table and be involved in these decisions. These are companies thinking about bundling strategies, contribution strategies and plan design. They are becoming increasingly sophisticated in how they communicate messages regarding open enrollment and are focused on it year-round.

Once you have achieved a best-in-class function, how do you solidify it for the future and get ahead of the curve? It really starts with strategies like clear ownership, an aggressive multi-year HSA seeding strategy, segmentation and personalization.

Alegeus is here to help our partners become best-in-class and future winners — it all starts with discovery. Are you positioned to drive outcomes? We have a multitude of resources to help you achieve your goals based on where you are currently, and where you want to be. Our webinar, “Never Too Soon: Planning & Best Practices for Your Best Open Enrollment,” is a great place to start.