Eden Prairie, MN, June 11, 2009 /PRNewswire/ – Long Term Care Group, Inc. (“LTCG”), the nation’s leader in outsourced services to the LTC insurance industry, and a subsidiary of Univita Health, has announced that is has successfully completed the conversion of 12,500 active LTC claims for the Senior Health Insurance Company of Pennsylvania (“SHIP”) to its LTCAS administrative platform. This project began in January 2008 when SHIP contracted with LTCG to convert and administer its closed block of 140,000 LTC policies.
SHIP is owned by a nonprofit trust and was formed to make sure all of the policyholders receive the benefits they are entitled to and the claims are paid on a timely basis. The oversight of SHIP is provided by a Board of Trustees that is made up of four former state insurance commissioners and an experienced insurance industry executive.
“This was our sixth conversion and by far the most complex ever attempted in the LTC insurance industry,” said Peter Goldstein, the President and Co-Founder of LTCG. “The SHIP block of claims is made up of more than 4,500 policy forms that were written over the last 20 years by multiple LTC insurers and is paying out almost $40 million dollars a month in benefits. The conversion process was seamless and not one policyholder’s claim payment was missed or delayed.”
“Through a challenging project such as the conversion of one of the largest blocks of claims in the Long Term Care insurance industry, LTCG demonstrated its commitment to delivering a timely conversion and a quality solution,” added Brian Wegner, the Executive Vice President and COO of SHIP. “Their systems and services will further enable SHIP to deliver on its core mission, which is to significantly reduce operating expenses and maximize the dollars available for policyholder benefits. LTCG’s expertise will help us to reduce expenses by 33% and ensure that claims are professionally handled.”
LTCG and SHIP will now turn their attention to the conversion of the policy administration functions from the three legacy systems where they currently reside. “Once the conversion is complete, SHIP will have much better access to data and significantly enhanced reporting with which to manage this business,” said Bruce Baude, LTCG’s CEO. “In addition, our system platform and processes will help deliver improved service to the policyholders.”
Long Term Care Group, Inc. is the country’s largest long term care administrator, providing services to over 30 long term care insurers including the top 10 writers. The company offers comprehensive policy administration including application processing, premium billing, customer service and claims and care management. In addition, LTCG has a robust consulting practice specializing in product development, risk management, compliance and actuarial services. Under its Nation’s CareLink brand, LTCG provides a full range of both telephonic and face-to-face assessments utilizing its national network of nurses. With 1,000 employees and over 1.2 million policies under management, LTCG is headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, and has operational centers in the Twin Cities, Nashville, Carmel, and Orlando. For more information, please visit www.ltcg.com.
Univita Health is dedicated to helping people live and age with independence. By providing one place to find and manage resources which support independent aging, Univita makes it easier for seniors to receive care and age safely at home. Univita is transforming home based care by integrating the full range of in-home care needs from basic caregiving through complex home health care, with the latest communication technologies. Through Univita’s web portal, people can directly communicate with providers and caregivers, coordinate scheduling, handle payment and monitor real-time activity. And Univita offers families unique, personalized assessments and decision support including financial planning tools. For more information, please visit www.univitahealth.com.
Senior Health Insurance Company of Pennsylvania, owned by an oversight trust established by the Pennsylvania Insurance Department, is focused exclusively on providing high quality service and meeting the Long Term Care policy commitments to their policyholders. SHIP operates without the objective of a profit, which means that customer premiums exclusively support policyholder service and claims, rather than returning a profit to shareholders of a corporation. The independent Trust was established exclusively to ensure that this mission is supported. For more information, please visit www.shipltc.com.
##
Press contact:
Sarah McLeod
480.922.8959
smcleod@univitahealth.com