Making the Most of Your

Health Benefits

In 1999 Airborne Express introduced the Enhanced PPO plan which was a significant change in our health benefits program. Most employees continue to report positive experiences with the plan, but we are aware that some ABX employees have experienced frustrations with claims payments during 2000.

To help resolve these issues, representatives from the United Health Care (UHC) claims office visited Wilmington in April and again in August and met with individual employees on specific claims issues. We wanted to take this opportunity to address some of the general concerns that were uncovered during their visit and what steps have been taken to resolve them.

United Health Care Meets with ABX Employees

United Health Care met with 137 employees and the issues fell into three general categories:

1. Claim office/customer service issues
2. Medical providers sending incorrect or inaccurate information
3. Employees not understanding the benefits available.
4. This newsletter will provide you with additional information on these topics.

Claims Backlog: Earlier in the year, the claims office was experiencing a 40 to 60-day backlog for claims that were pended for additional information. That is, when an employee called or sent the requested additional information, it was taking an additional 40 to 60 days to adjust the claim for payment. This often resulted in the medical provider sending out an invoice to the employee showing the claim as unpaid at the end of each month. UHC’s goal is to keep the backlog under 10 days.

In May, the claims office had reduced the backlog time to 7-10 days by assigning additional resources to the adjustment unit that handles Airborne’s account. ABX continues to monitor the backlog status and will work with UHC management as needed to ensure the backlog time remains at an acceptable level.

Radiology, Laboratory, Anesthesia, and Emergency Room Charges: Employees who use Clinton Memorial Hospital sometimes found UHC paid hospital- based physician charges at 60% instead of 100% This occurred because these providers were not participating in the UHC network.

Since patients don’t have a choice which E.R. doctor, radiologist, laboratory or anesthesiologist is used when using a network hospital, UHC has re-programmed their claims-paying software to pay these claims at 100%. However, it is still possible for a claim to be paid incorrectly at 60% if the doctor’s bill arrives at UHC before the hospital bill. If this happens, you should contact UHC customer service or the ABX Benefits Department for assistance.

UHC also is working with the various hospital based physician groups to bring them into the network to eliminate this problem completely.

Customer Service Retraining: Some employees reported that they received inaccurate or conflicting answers when they called UHC customer service with an inquiry. This sometimes occurred due to inexperience with the Airborne account and sometimes because the caller provided incomplete information.

UHC has completed retraining of the customer service representatives assigned to Airborne’s account. You can help ensure accurate responses to your questions by making sure you provide full and complete information about your situation when you call.

Billing Issues at Clinton Memorial Hospital: Sometimes incorrect billing information was sent by Clinton Memorial Hospital to the claims office. This caused claim payments to be delayed or paid incorrectly. To help reduce the error rate, UHC has established regular conference calls with the billing office at Clinton Memorial to resolve specific claims issues and to identify ways to prevent their reoccurrence.

CMH After Hours Clinic: The billing office was using an incorrect code for visits to the CMH After Hours Clinic on Rombach Ave. This sometimes caused the bill to be paid incorrectly or delayed the payment. The computer billing program used by Clinton Memorial for their After Hours Clinic has been corrected to send the proper billing code to United Health Care.

Balance Billing: Some employees reported that Clinton Memorial Hospital was billing patients for the amount of the discount. This is incorrect and you should never pay the discount. The amount of the discount is shown on the Explanation of Benefits sent to you by the insurance company on each claim.

Clinton Memorial reported to us that they started using a new third party service for some of their billing earlier this year and that the third party service was incorrectly balance billing patients. The third party billing service has corrected their computer programming to prevent balance billing for the discount.

Employees not Understanding Benefits

Sometimes employees have misunderstandings about what types of benefits are covered and what is not covered. It’s important for everyone to know and understand their benefits.

Several sources of information are available including your Benefits Handbook. A new Benefits Handbook is being issued for 2001. In addition, your benefits are joining the world wide web with two new web sites:

www.myuhc.com: This new web site sponsored by United Health Care allows you access to your information on line.

With this web site you can find a physician (including specialists), check on your eligibility status, review your claims, order refills from the mail order pharmacy and much more. To use this site you must log on and register. A personal password will be mailed to your address of record.

www.abxair.com/benefits: ABX’s web site now has expanded information about your benefits. Use this site to learn more about your benefits as well as what steps to take when you have a family or status change. You also can obtain claim forms and other useful information.

For Those Not on the Net: Information about your benefits will continue to be available on paper. Your Benefits Handbook is an excellent resource for benefits information. Paper copies of the provider directories are still available upon request, and the toll-free numbers continue to be available to assist you when you have questions.

ABX Benefits Dept.: The Benefits Dept. continues to be available to answer questions and help with claims issues. If you are unable to get a claim issue resolved on your own, contact the Benefits Dept. for assistance. Benefits personnel can be reached at (800)-736-3973 ext. 2567 or by e-mail at abx.benefits@airborne.com.

The Enhanced PPO plan is an excellent program for our employees. Over 141,000 medical claims are paid each year for ABX’s 7,000+ employees representing over $27 million in medical payments. United Health Care processes 91.4% of all Airborne claims within 10 days. Most employees pay just their office visit & prescription co-payments and have all other services covered at 100%. However, nobody is perfect, and United Health Care continues to work on improving their service for ABX employees. If you are having claims problems and have been unable to resolve them working directly with United Health Care, please contact the ABX Benefits Dept. at ext. 2567 or abx.benefits@airborne.com for further assistance.

11/2/2000

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