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Webb/Mason tackles Gordian Health Solutions’ fulfillment woes
By Andy Brown
Businesses seeking to reduce health care costs work with Gordian Health Solutions, Franklin, Tenn., to enroll employees in incentive-based prevention programs. Employees receive packets from Gordian that include a health risk assessment questionnaire and information about the programs offered, including weight loss and smoking cessation plans. Employees who fill out the questionnaire and enroll in the programs receive a health risk profile, and professional health coaching and educational materials for a year.
When Webb/Mason Sales Representative Scott McConnell started working with Gordian four years ago, the health services firm was still gathering momentum. “It was a much smaller company, with only a handful of products,” McConnell says. He supplied Gordian with the pocket folders and multiple marketing and educational inserts that were sent to prospective enrollees. Gordian then handled fulfillment of those materials in house. Employees would hand-stuff the pocket folders into non-window envelopes. As a result, they also had to generate and manually apply labels for each envelope.
“The watershed moment, when we became an integrated partner, was 18 months ago,” McConnell says. “They were adding clients at such a fast rate, they had to start outsourcing the mailing and fulfillment.”
Process Simplification
Jean Parkyn, Gordian’s director of creative services, worked with McConnell to streamline the mailing and fulfillment process. They eliminated the pocket folders in favor of six-panel brochures. Doing so allowed Gordian to reduce the number of printed pieces by consolidating information from the inserts and printing it in the brochure. Also, the brochure was designed so that personal contact information could be printed directly onto it. Webb/Mason managed the process of printing, kitting and mailing the new materials. “The first evolution was to automate the whole process instead of having it hand stuffed,” Parkyn says. “One of the reasons we chose Webb/Mason is that Scott never says it can’t be done.”
“[Health care mailings] have to be extremely accurate, because there are confidentiality issues.”
Jean Parkyn, Director of Creative Services Gordian Health Solutions, Franklin, Tenn.
The packets often need to be manufactured and mailed under tight deadlines. “Our materials generally go out the same time enrollment benefit materials go out,” says Parkyn. “It’s time sensitive, because it’s typically in a client’s open enrollment period.” Employers usually give employees only a week or two to enroll in benefits programs. If the printing and fulfillment of the packets is late, “that throws our clients’ enrollment period off,” says Parkyn. “We can’t miss deadlines.”
McConnell receives a weekly production log from Gordian listing the volume and components necessary for upcoming mailings. Then he coordinates with vendors to produce and mail the kits on time. The busiest period, he says, tends to be late in the third quarter through the fourth quarter of each year.
The kits must be delivered not only on time but to the correct person. The materials inside the kits contain personal health care information. “[The mailings] have to be extremely accurate, because there are confidentiality issues,” says Parkyn. “They aren’t generic materials. There’s a component with each packet that’s specific to an individual.”
With the volume of packets sent, it was even more important that the production process be streamlined and more efficient. McConnell and Jean identified a process that could use improvement: Answers to the health assessment questionnaires are filled out on a paper form, but they were difficult to track once enrollees returned them. Each form was assigned a personal identification number, but Gordian employees had to key them into their tracking system.
“It’s important to understand what a company does as early as possible, so you can identify potential bottlenecks.”
Scott McConnell, Sales Representative Webb/Mason Inc., Nashville, Tenn.
Webb/Mason and Gordian solved this problem by incorporating a custom bar code label that enrollees affix to their questionnaires. Now Gordian employees simply scan the bar code to begin the tracking process. The brochure also includes an integrated card with PIN number and key code. Enrollees keep the card and use the PIN and key code to access the status of their questionnaire online.
According to Parkyn, Gordian and other health care companies are focusing more on their missions as health services providers. That means turning more auxiliary functions like fulfillment to outside experts like Webb/Mason. McConnell estimates that he has printed more than half a million pieces for Gordian already. He says earning business from similar companies requires understanding their customers. “Who are they and how do the businesses communicate with them?” he says. “It’s important to understand what a company does as early as possible, so you can identify potential bottlenecks.”