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Tapping into a network of 2000 local physicians, the organization's Small Group Business uses a network of more than 200 external brokers to take its insurance products to market throughout Southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina.

With rising competition, Sentara set out to grow its customer base through increased new business and higher levels of health plan member retention. The health plan also sought to increase the effectiveness of its broker network, reduce administrative inefficiency and improve internal workflow by reducing the company's reliance on ageing, error-prone, paper-based administration processes.

According to Joanne Galimi, Research Director, Gartner, "To deal with an increasingly competitive environment, insurers will need to streamline operations, cut costs, increase agility and enhance customer relationships. Senior executives and IT leaders must identify investments that will support sustainable growth."

To address these requirements, Sentara deployed Pivotal's CRM for Healthcare Payers Suite of products including Pivotal Heathcare Front Office to address internal sales, marketing and underwriting and Pivotal Healthcare eBroker to extend automation capabilities to the health plan's broker network.

Automation in Action - The ROI of a Paperless Sales Process

Using the Pivotal system, Sentara benefits from complete front office data consolidation and, with integration to the company's rating system, Sentara can manage the entire sales cycle from lead to contract using the same application.

By reducing the number of times a Sentara employee or broker has to perform a paper-based, manual administrative task, Sentara has greatly reduced the stapling, rerouting and filing time associated with a paper-based system. Add to this the speed of electronic communication between sales, administration and underwriting and Sentara has reduced the average length of time it takes to turn a quote into a sold group plan by a full 50 percent.

Since deploying the system in Sentara has:

• Added 5000 new health plan members;
• Reduced the average sales cycle from 10 days to 5;
• Increased the number of quotes generated by 30 percent in a single year while
  converting 18 percent more quotes into completed sales;
• Freed up 10 percent more time for brokers and salespeople to be out in front
  of prospects;
• Achieved a 93 percent member-retention rate

"Deploying Pivotal has helped us get even more competitive in a number of key areas," said Scott Johnson, IT director, Sentara. "We're definitely generating more revenue, while at the same time reducing administrative expenses. We have moved back into a membership-growth mode and were able to downsize our account-services department by reducing the paper they have to deal with. And, terms of retention, we're running at a 93 percent rate, which is 5 percent higher than before the solution was deployed."

Extending IT's Reach - 24/7 Broker Access

Before deploying Pivotal Healthcare eBroker, Sentara's extended network of brokers were burdened with a laborious, paper-based system for interacting with Sentara and because they relied on Sentara for the latest products and quote processing, they were limited to Sentara's 8-5 work day. With security-controlled access to Sentara through eBroker, Sentara's brokers benefit from immediate, 24/7 access to the latest products, as well as the ability to generate their own proposals, insert approved rates, deliver requests for proposal to prospects and oversee the contract process.

In addition, by reducing errors and paper-based administration requirements, both Sentara's salespeople and brokers are now able to spend approximately 10 percent more of their time on the road in front of potential customers.

According to Rick Marquardt, President, CDC Software, "Sentara is widely recognized as a leader in the successful application of information technology in the healthcare insurance industry. While other insurers are only now examining their processes and addressing inefficiencies, Sentara leads the pack with a system that not only makes the organization more efficient and competitive, but also facilitates the integrated healthcare experience government and consumers demand. By taking advantage of the industry-specific orientation of the Pivotal CRM for Healthcare Insurance suite, the company is well-positioned for success in this increasingly-competitive industry."

Gartner, "Client Issues 2005: Insurers Need IT to Survive Competition," Anne Marie Earley, Doron Cohen, Cynthia E. Burghard, Joanne Galimi, Kimberly Harris-Ferrante, Vincent Olivia, Frank W. Schlier, Janice Young, April 5, 2005.