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Administrative Enterprises
THE BACKGROUND
Administrative Enterprises, Inc (AEI), a Glendale, Arizona
company that has become Arizona’s largest third-party
healthcare fund administrator (TPA), employs 90 people and
serves thousands of employees at schools, public agencies
and private enterprises. The company issues some 80,000
checks each month, also printing second copies and
explanations of benefits along with the checks.
The claims that AEI reviews and pays, originate with doctors,
hospitals, druggists and other covered providers. Using AEI’s
services, plan sponsors or groups exercise appropriate control
over healthcare expenditures, at lower costs versus fully
insured plans, says Network Administrator Laurence Nolan,
who has been with the company since the mid-1990s and has
participated energetically in its growth.
THE PROBLEM
“Initially, we used line printers and preprinted, multi-copy
continuous form check stock that included a carbon copy; and
over time this system definitely inhibited efficiency and growth,”
Nolan said. “We had to feed the line printer and if there was a
hiccup or a bad character, it was necessary to start the run all
over. The process was slow; ribbons tended to fade during
check runs, producing poor quality checks, and we had rows of
file cabinets full of carbons.
“On top of all this, there were regular attempts at check fraud,”
he said. “With so many checks going so many places, the fraud
risk was constant…all anyone needed was software, a scanner
and check stock. A fraud attempt meant changing bank
account numbers and being stuck with piles of boxes of
unused check stock.”
THE SOLUTION
The situation couldn’t continue, Nolan said, and he began
researching alternatives. He considered several different
solutions as well as consulted with major printer companies,
eventually selecting ACOM’s Payment software, a
straightforward software system that enables users to use
electronic check templates instead of preprinted check forms.
ACOM’s Payment software generates complete signed checks
and their associated documentation on blank security check
stock in a single pass through a MICR-enhanced laser printer.
Moreover, utilizing blank check stock avoids the need to print
and maintain large inventories of check forms, as well as
dramatically reduces opportunities for check fraud through theft
of forms and alteration of printed checks.
THE IMPLEMENTATION
Implementation of the system and cutover to production
was quick and easy, Nolan says. He worked with
ACOM’s implementation team to set up check templates
for the several accounts, after which he and his team
were able to set up new accounts as well as to modify
existing ones on their own.
AEI maintains a claims account for each group, and its
home-grown claims processing software organizes
payment files by provider. Prior to the implementation of
ACOM’s Payment software, the continuous multipart
forms had to be burst, decollated and sorted prior to
being folded, stuffed into envelopes and mailed.
Under ACOM’s Payment software solution, the checks
are still printed in a batch process with each provider's
claims printed together so they can be automatically
folded and sealed, ready for mailing, with little or no
manual handling. The entire process, from running the
checks to sending them out, is performed in the AEI
mailroom by a staff of three people.
“We went with ACOM’s Payment software for a number
of reasons,” Nolan says. “Seamless compatibility with
our software was an absolute. Price was important but
even more so was software flexibility and technical
support. ACOM’s Payment software enables us to do
whatever we need to do. For example, we run the entire
batch of checks in one file that includes multiple
providers and multiple groups. We are able to change
bank account numbers for the groups on-the-fly.
ACOM’s technical support professionals got us into
production very quickly and they continue to be available
as we need them. ACOM’s Southern California location
played an important role in that regard.”
SUCCESS
ACOM’s Payment solution has helped AEI to manage
costs effectively as the company has continued to grow,
Nolan says.
“It allowed us to accelerate production processes and to
save significantly on personnel resources; equipment
and maintenance; form preprinting; post-processing and
mailing; and on high-usage supplies like ribbons,” he
says. “The quality of the checks is consistently high and
we get more done, faster, with less effort and greater
security. ACOM’s Payment software was a relatively
small investment that paid for itself in less than a year in
time alone.”
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