Group Management Services Acquires TPA to Help Ohio Businesses Manage Rising Healthcare Costs

Richfield, OH (PRWEB) October 04, 2013

Group Management Services, Inc., an Ohio-based Professional Employer Organization has completed its merger with third-party administrators Ogden Benefits Administration, Employee Benefit Concepts, and Variable Protection Administrators (1).

In conjunction with Group Management Services’ health and workers’ compensation captive insurance company, Group Captive Management, which was launched in January, 2013, the acquisition enables GMS to provide small and medium-sized companies with the tools they need to lower premiums, manage healthcare costs, and provide health benefits to employees.

Small group health insurance premiums are expected to increase by as much as 88% for Ohio businesses in 2014 (2), in large part due to a concept called Adjusted Community Rating. Currently, employers’ premiums are based on a number of factors, including age, gender, tobacco usage, medical history and more. Insurance companies assign a rating to each person and charge premiums based on the group’s cumulative rating.

Under the Affordable Care Act, Adjusted Community Rating will not consider medical history, but instead will determine premiums based on the carrier’s pool of companies as a whole (3). Generally, younger and/or healthier groups will pay more, while older and/or unhealthier groups will pay less. The end result is higher premiums for many employees and higher healthcare costs for employers.

By combining its captive insurance and TPA services, Group Management Services enables businesses to use an alternative to Adjusted Community Rating to mitigate premium increases, thus lowering healthcare costs for employers and enabling them to provide higher-quality health benefits to their employees.

“This latest acquisition puts Group Management Services in a unique position,” said President Mike Kahoe. “The changes to our healthcare system are making it more difficult for small and medium-size business owners to provide quality health benefits and remain profitable, but now we are capable of providing the option for business owners to accomplish both.”

Group Management Services will continue to provide third-party administration services to the hundreds of customers already serviced by Ogden Benefits Administration, Employee Benefit Concepts, and Variable Protection Administrators.

Group Management Services is a professional employer organization (PEO). The largest Ohio-based PEO, Group Management Services provides payroll, human resources, benefits, and risk management services to more than 1,100 companies and 20,000 worksite employees. The company has a history of saving business owners time and money and is focused on making employee management simpler, safer, and stronger for small and medium-sized businesses. For more information, please visit: http://www.groupmgmt.com/tpa/.

Sources:
1: Risk Managers, September 24, 2013
2: Ohio Chamber of Commerce Legislative Update Report, June 10, 2013
3: United Healthcare Adjusted Community Rating, July 1, 2013

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