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Employee Spotlight: Amy Ekart

Posted on by Ideon

At Ideon, we’re proud to have such a talented, diverse team leading the charge for a better and more connected health insurance and employee benefits industry. Our ongoing Employee Spotlight series showcases the people behind our product and unveils what life is like at Ideon. Next up… Amy Ekart, our Operations Support Representative.

Name: Amy Ekart
Department: Solutions Delivery
Title: Operations Support Representative
Location: Colorado

Work

How long have you worked at Ideon?

A little over four months — I started in April 2022. 

What was your onboarding process like?

Quick and easy. The People team was great at communicating the onboarding process before my first day, and once I started, I met other new members of the team who joined around the same time. It was nice to experience onboarding with a group of peers. 

Tell us about your day-to-day work as an Operations Support Representative.

My typical day centers around facilitating correspondence with carriers on data acquisition, support questions, and testing. But every day is different, as I support two separate teams: Data Operations and Carrier Relations.

How was the transition from working at a large carrier to joining an InsurTech like Ideon?

I worked in Small Group underwriting at a large insurance carrier before transitioning over. One of the biggest changes has been moving from an established corporation to a growing company, where we have more opportunities to solve problems through innovative solutions and processes. It’s exciting to be part of a company transforming the customer experience. 

What attracted you to Ideon’s mission?

It’s hard to make decisions about your health insurance and benefits. Having worked at a large insurance carrier before, I was drawn to Ideon’s mission of making the world of health insurance more transparent and consumer-friendly to help individuals make informed decisions. 

What do you like about Ideon’s company culture?

I like the collaborative and fast-paced environment, filled with a bunch of health insurance geeks who have extensive knowledge and understanding of the healthcare industry. And I could tell instantly that my new teammates are genuinely good people.

Life

Favorite activity when you’re not working? 

I live in Colorado, so it depends on the season! Skiing in the winter and hiking and camping in the summer. But I’m always trying out new craft breweries during all seasons. 

Favorite place you’ve traveled?

Iceland and Thailand. Iceland for the insane geography and Thailand for the culture (the food was tasty, too!). 

Interesting fact about yourself… Go!

I played softball in college and one year our NCAA Regional games in Arizona were broadcasted on ESPN.

Interested in joining our team? Check out Ideon’s careers page.

Reclaim’s Story: How Ideon’s APIs saved time and reduced risk

Posted on by Ideon

“I think of Ideon as infrastructure-as-a-service”

Reclaim helps individuals and families manage their healthcare bills by providing a bevy of insurance-related services. The company’s app allows users to access bills, learn how they might offset costs, discover how they might have received more cost-effective service elsewhere, and more.

 Reclaim is out to simplify the insurance experience for the consumer—but they were also eager to simplify their own internal operations.

Enter Ideon’s API, an accurate and comprehensive source for provider-network data—information on which doctors and facilities participate in each insurance network.

Before Ideon we were getting data from carriers, but each one’s schema is different. That makes the ETL [extract, transform, load] process difficult because we were doing several data manipulations per carrier. Now it’s just one schema that we have to worry about—Ideon’s. 

Using Ideon also means we don’t have to worry about delays. It’s derisking for us.

So says Reclaim’s co-founder and CEO, Nataly Youssef. Interested in hearing the whole story? Download our case study here.

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Employee Spotlight: Nadine Bal

Posted on by Ideon

At Ideon, we’re proud to have such a talented, diverse team leading the charge for a better and more connected health insurance and employee benefits industry. Our ongoing Employee Spotlight series showcases the people behind our product and unveils what life is like at Ideon. Next up… Nadine Bal, our Data Operations Analyst.

Name: Nadine Bal
Department: Data Operations
Title: Data Operations Analyst
Location: New York. NY

Work

How long have you worked at Ideon?

I was among the first few hires! It’ll be 7 years in January.

Tell us about your day-to-day at Ideon.

Like Ross and his couch I’m pivoting most of the time! (IYKYK.. If you don’t… Friends reference) My main responsibility is acquiring data from insurance carriers and public sources — it’s a collaborative role, working with various teams to get the job done. Additionally, I’m currently partnering with our product team on enhancing internal tooling for our data operations staff. It’s really interesting!

What attracted you to Ideon’s mission?

I liked the idea of transforming the confusing world of health insurance data into something consumers can actually understand. And the work is important, as it helps people make better decisions for themselves and their families.

What excites you about the future of Ideon?

The sky is the limit for Ideon. We have a great product and the right team to make the “what if we…?” and “could we…?” questions a reality.

How have you grown professionally while on our team?

When I first started at Ideon, we didn’t have the robust processes and structure that we have in place today. It’s been an incredible experience to develop those processes, and now, with a much larger team, seeing them really be utilized to create efficiencies and a better customer experience. I’ve learned that communication between colleagues and across departments is essential. And taking pride in what you do makes all the difference!

Life

Favorite activity when you’re not working?

Reading (I know, boring but true)! Harry Potter is still my favorite series to date.

Favorite place you’ve traveled?

Costa Rica. Friendly people, amazing food, and gorgeous waterfalls.

Interesting fact about yourself… Go!

I love a good true crime documentary or podcast. Sword and Scale is one of my favorite podcasts and Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father is an amazing documentary.

 

Interested in joining our team? Check out Ideon’s careers page.

Gravie’s Story: How Ideon eliminated heaps of manual work and allowed for market expansion

Posted on by Ideon

“Partnering with Ideon makes us a scalable solution”

For nearly a decade, Gravie has been disrupting the health insurance space through its innovative health benefits solutions, from pre-tax individual market options to its own flagship health plan, Comfort.

Since 2018, Ideon has played an important role in streamlining Gravie’s processes. Nicole Lovaas, a vice president at Gravie, shared how things looked before Ideon came on the scene:

We used data we found on healthcare.gov or from the Department of Commerce or other sources—for every state. It was very labor-intensive. We had to enter all the information we collected into Excel spreadsheets, which we then loaded into our system to display plan and rate data.

The folks at Gravie also knew that ICHRAs were going to be a big deal in 2020, and were eager to present themselves as a national solution. However, they were unenthusiastic about the multiplicity of sources that would need to be involved.

Want to learn how Gravie said sayonara to manual processes—and expanded their national reach? Get the case study here.

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Insurance Nerd Day: What it means to be a benefits geek at Ideon

Posted on by Ideon

At Ideon, we take pride in our nerd status! In fact, it’s in our DNA—“Think big and geek out often” is one of our five operating principles.

In honor of Insurance Nerd Day, we asked a few Ideonauts to explain why they love data, insurance, and employee benefits so much.

What makes you an insurance nerd?

Matt Leonard, VP, Carrier Relations
I’m a 20+ year veteran of the insurance industry. I’ve helped launch Medicare Advantage and Part D in eight different states and the ACA plans. I’ve read the entire Affordable Care Act, which was nearly 20,000 pages! I’ve sat on the state exchange commission in Nebraska, helped draft legislation, and participated in countless workgroups with CMS, HHS, and the BCBS Association.

Robin Rogers, Senior Sales Director, InsurTech
A few things make me an insurance nerd.  I love the technical and strategic side of the benefits industry. From data transfer to electronic medical records, I find the evolving technology in our industry truly fascinating.

Iris Rosado, Data Operations Manager – Processing
I did not start out as an insurance nerd, but I’ve been trending in that direction ever since I joined Ideon (then Vericred) nearly seven years ago. Now I’m even signed up to receive state-exchange alerts for anything pertaining to ACA rules and regulations. I also talk to my own children about the importance of obtaining and understanding their own health insurance.

Val Leonard, VP of Enrollment Operations
I wear my title of insurance nerd with extreme pride. I’m obsessed with the concept of the fortunate-many helping the unfortunate-few. I love the complexity and constant change so much that I have dedicated my entire 20+ career to the industry. My friends and family know that when they ask me anything about insurance, they better grab some popcorn, as it’ll be a few hours later that I wrap up the conversation.

How did you get started in this industry?

Courtney Williams, Director, Carrier Relations
I started my career in technology, fell into insurance accidentally, and eventually became a producer in the employer group market. The constantly changing landscape makes insurance interesting and I was particularly drawn to the strategic side of building an employee benefits package.

Matt Leonard, VP, Carrier Relations
I started in the insurance industry working for Wellmark BCBS of Iowa and South Dakota as a Consumer Sales Representative marketing individual plans and Medicare Supplement plans. Insurance is the most prevalent industry in Des Moines, Iowa, where I grew up, so this was always my destiny!

Robin Rogers, Senior Sales Director, InsurTech
I started in the industry in 1990 as a Provider Relations Representative for a Houston PPO. My boss at the time gave me huge opportunities and hired me several years later to start Wellpoint in Houston.

Val Leonard, VP of Enrollment Operations
Believe it or not, I chose this crazy industry. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Actuarial Science. If I hadn’t already convinced everyone that I’m an insurance nerd, that likely solidified it.

What do you love most about being a benefits geek at Ideon?

Robin Rogers, Senior Sales Director, InsurTech
I love building relationships and finding ways to help InsurTechs work smarter, not harder. Building relationships in this industry can be lifelong—I keep in touch with colleagues personally and professionally.

Val Leonard, VP of Enrollment Operations
Helping others is always rewarding. If done well, insurance can truly help people, both financially and emotionally, during times when they need it the most. Working at Ideon, I’m ensuring people receive the coverage they expect, when they expect it, so they don’t have to worry when they need it.

Courtney Williams, Director, Carrier Relations
Solving problems, building relationships, and collaborating with health insurance and ancillary carriers. Working alongside carriers, we enhance broker, employer and member experiences through the journey of purchasing and administering health insurance and employee benefits products. It’s very rewarding being part of a company that is enabling better digital experiences for brokers, employers, and members.

What excites you about the future of employee benefits?

Iris Rosado, Data Operations Manager – Processing
Everyone has a role to play in keeping employees and their families healthy. What excites me is seeing employers, benefits providers, and brokers focused on using new technologies to meet that goal and the changing needs of today’s workforce.

Matt Leonard, VP, Carrier Relations
I find the evolution of employee benefits to be quite interesting. Transparency excites me and I like to see that the customer journey is now being considered in nearly all aspects of how benefits are distributed. Transparency and data democratization will move the industry forward in astounding ways.

Robin Rogers, Senior Sales Director, InsurTech
I am excited about the new decision support tools that are hitting the market. Using these tools at the time of enrollment allows employees to use their individual health status, and in some cases their financial situation, to select the right coverage for their needs, be it health or financial well-being.

Val Leonard, VP of Enrollment Operations
Employee benefits are complicated. Not everyone should have to be a 20+ year veteran of the industry to understand how it works and what to expect when electing and paying for coverages. I’m excited for new tools, products, and processes that make things simpler, provide more transparency, and become more efficient for employers and employees, which I hope ultimately leads to affordability.

Courtney Williams, Director, Carrier Relations
Wow … the future is looking bright! It’s exciting to see carriers offer new products—employer-sponsored and voluntary—to help employers engage and retain top talent. And new plan design strategies such as ICHRA are opening up fresh market opportunities. The best part is all of these modern solutions are delivered via modern, intuitive digital experiences!

Green Leaf’s Story: How API-powered carrier connectivity delivered a better client experience

Posted on by Ideon

“Our benefits enrollment and administration experience is light years faster”

Green Leaf Payroll & Business Solutions helps its clients in the cannabis industry streamline a wide range of payroll and HR tasks, from securing bank accounts to providing access to a suite of benefits and HR technologies.

As Green Leaf expanded its benefits solution, there was one often-requested service that it was hard-pressed to address: connectivity between an employer’s benefits software and its insurance carriers.

Hear it from them:

“We were avoiding it like the plague,” says Tyler Priest, Green Leaf’s vice president for strategic accounts. “It would take eight to 12 weeks to build carrier connections, and something would always break. Then I’d have to devote employee time and energy to fixing it that should have gone to servicing clients.” It was simpler to have the employer or its insurance broker manually fill out forms to add or change coverage and send them to the carrier.

By the start of 2021, however, potential clients started demanding the speed, efficiency, and automation of electronic connections to their carriers. “If we didn’t offer a solution,” Priest says, “we ran the risk that clients would look elsewhere.”

Researching the options, Priest found an article explaining that EDI, the technology used to connect to carriers, was being replaced, in some cases, with APIs, a modern approach that is much faster, scalable, and more accurate. He contacted Ideon, a leader in API solutions for benefits platforms, to help Green Leaf enhance its carrier connectivity capabilities.

Wondering how it went?  (Hint: This story has a happy ending.)  Download the full case study here for all the details.

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GetInsured’s Story: How Ideon saved the company time and resources—and boosted stakeholder confidence

Posted on by Ideon

“It’s a streamlined process when we’re working with a trusted, experienced data partner”

GetInsured powers state-based health insurance marketplaces by providing health insurance technology and customer service solutions for state governments. An important feature of the company’s offering is that consumers have the ability to shop for plans by healthcare provider, which helps individuals keep their doctors when enrolling in a new plan.

Back in the day, sourcing provider-network data was quite the headache. Says GetInsured’s director of product management, Archana Dekate:

Before Ideon we were getting our data directly from carriers or through other vendors. And each vendor had their own APIs and their own set of implementation procedures, which meant that we would have to modify our code every time to accept their data, then QA it, test it, and so on. It was time consuming; every product release would take anywhere from one to three months of setup time.

Thanks to Ideon, that’s all safely in the rearview mirror. To learn how partnering with Ideon helped GetInsured on multiple fronts, download our case study here.

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A People-Centric Approach to Digital Transformation in Health Insurance

Posted on by Ideon

By Meg Collins, Ideon’s Chief Growth Officer

By now the argument is all too familiar: Digital transformation offers a host of attractive rewards, ranging from cost savings to improved customer experience. 

That’s especially true in health insurance, an industry long dominated by established carriers skeptical of change but also being disrupted by new technology platforms reimagining benefits administration. In this rapidly evolving ecosystem, organizations that embrace digital change will inevitably emerge in a stronger competitive position.

But there’s a caveat. For digital transformation to be, well, transformative, it must be done right. 

And that’s far easier said than done. According to research by consulting giant McKinsey, the success rate of organizational transformations in general is lower than 30%. Digital refittings—which require collaboration between multiple business groups—are even tougher to make work. Just 16% of respondents to the McKinsey survey said that digital transformation efforts at their organizations “have successfully improved performance and also equipped them to sustain changes in the long term.”

There are many reasons for this, but according to Boston Consulting Group one commonality reigns supreme: The human dimension is usually most vital to the outcome of attempted digital transformations. 

In other words: Operating models, processes, and culture are at least as important to digital-transformation success as the technologies themselves. That’s certainly our experience at Ideon. With our APIs, we have successfully helped organizations in every corner of the health insurance and benefits ecosystem. But in doing so we have also observed the importance of a people-centric approach. And though every company is unique, the following four imperatives will go a long way to getting digital transformation right at any organization:

  1. Establish clear goals and governance. In planning stages, digital transformation should be attacked quasi-journalistically: What are we doing? Why are we doing this? Who is accepting ownership of this project? Where will we procure resources from? What is the sequence of events? Whether your organization seeks to replace legacy IT infrastructure or create an end-to-end customer experience, leaders should create a roadmap with quantifiable outcomes for digital transformation projects. But they must also be sure to make clear who “owns” each undertaking, instilling in each owner a clear understanding of how their work fits into the greater whole.

  2. Craft a compelling story. Many of the strongest reasons for dramatic change make for an uninspiring or anxiety-causing narrative. This is notably so with digital transformation, which many employees interpret as job-threatening. That’s why it’s crucial for leadership to craft a compelling story about where a company is headed and why wholesale change in technology and process is necessary. More often than not, that story involves improving the customer experience, but whatever the tale, it needs to be told and reinforced—via regular updates—so that all decisions can be easily understood as part of a meaningful journey.

  3. Assemble a complete team. Yes, having tech-savvy and tech-embracing people on transition teams is crucial. And yes, it’s important to include leaders from across an organization. But it’s also crucial to involve employees of all ranks and personality types wherever possible in planning and execution. First, because wholesale change inevitably impacts employees and workflows at all levels. But also because inclusion builds buy-in, increasing the likelihood that changing priorities, shifting tactics, and other crucial information is widely disseminated. Nothing increases mistrust more than actual or perceived secrecy, and an inclusive transition team helps avoid that reality or perception. Finally, building a transformation team that accounts for personality types and roles lessens the likelihood that this extremely important endeavor will be derailed by unhealthy (and all-too-common) group dynamics. 

  4. Encourage input. Digital transformation is usually messy and rarely without challenges. As a result, it’s important to provide all employees with a mechanism to comment on or contribute to transformation planning or execution in (relatively) real time. This fosters a valuable sense of ownership and investment, which helps to avoid internal resistance (a common-enough phenomenon that it has a name: “blocking”) and also overcome the inevitable glitches or missteps.

Digital transformation is almost always a momentous undertaking, but it need not be intimidating. Organizations that succeed in keeping people and culture top of mind are already halfway to meaningful change. We know this at Ideon, because we see it happen every day with our customers and partners. We can’t enable your entire transformation, but when it comes to revamping your digital connectivity strategy, Ideon is happy to help. Contact us to learn more!

 

Powerful from the start: How data integrations helped DocMe launch an innovative digital health app

Posted on by Zach Wallens

By Zach Wallens
Director of Content and Communications, Ideon

In this blog post, Ideon profiles one of our newest customers, DocMe, a digital health app based in New York.

It’s no secret that new technologies and companies are driving innovation in the healthcare industry. From mental health and virtual care to digital pharmacies, care navigation, and billing, digital health startups are popping up in all corners of the healthcare ecosystem.

That ecosystem, however, is getting crowded. The race for customers, funding, and publicity is more competitive than ever before.

One way to stand out? Build intuitive, data-driven user experiences powered by third-party data integrations. New York-based DocMe, a brand new digital health app, is one example of an innovation-through-integration approach, leveraging several APIs to create a powerful interface for patients and providers.

Connecting the Dots

Founded in 2021 by private equity investor Tim Gollin, the original concept for DocMe was an app to help consumers shop for doctors, comparing availability, insurance coverage, and prices for specific procedures. Of course, there are existing services, such as ZocDoc, for booking medical appointments.

Gollin quickly realized that a connected patient experience—bringing together disparate data sets within a single platform—could truly differentiate DocMe from competitors. Leveraging third-party integrations, Gollin and his developers understood, would be far more efficient than chasing down data sets and building functionality from scratch.

DocMe streamlined its development by relying on specialized companies to provide data and services it incorporated into its app. “A lot of the data and connections we would have had to build ourselves in the past we can now get from vendors,” Gollin says. “We see ourselves as stringing together little bits of Tinker Toys to build a complete product.”

Indeed, DocMe integrates third-party technology for functions like electronic health records, payments processing, video conferencing, and provider identity verification. And it incorporates multiple sources of data about providers, procedure costs, and—with data from Ideon—insurance networks.

“Ideon provides me with the ability to show consumers which doctors are in their network without them having to go to their insurance company website,” Gollin says. “Doctors don’t even know what networks they are in. We’ve heard lots of stories where people get told on the phone the doctor is in their plan only to discover it’s not. Ideon has the definitive answer.”

This tight integration between services provides patients with an easier, more intuitive experience. Some examples:

  • DocMe promises patients that they’ll never have to enter medical information history more than once. 
  • When someone makes a doctor’s appointment, they not only see available times but also the specific services offered and the price they’ll pay according to the terms of their insurance plan.
  • When a patient books an appointment, DocMe will collect the amount not covered by insurance in advance. In other words, patients get a much more transparent market.

DocMe is continuing to add features to its product, integrating data more tightly to save users time. It will use Ideon’s card scanning technology, for example, to extract patients’ network information by simply snapping a photo of their insurance cards. 

DocMe is also preparing to roll out in Brazil, Italy, France, and the United Arab Emirates. Some might ask why a small company would spread its resources across different countries, each with its own health care system. Gollin answers that the work done to build integrated capabilities and smooth user experience into DocMe already gives it an advantage in other markets. “The goofy thing is the U.S. system is super complicated,” he says. “Everyplace else is significantly simpler.”

For more information about Ideon’s APIs for digital health and InsurTech platforms, click here.

Employee Spotlight: Colin Crihfield

Posted on by Ideon

At Ideon, we’re proud to have such a talented, diverse team leading the charge for a better and more connected health insurance and employee benefits industry. Our ongoing Employee Spotlight series showcases the people behind our product and unveils what life is like at Ideon. Next up… Colin Crihfield, Product Manager.

Name: Colin Crihfield

Department: Product

Title: Product Manager

Location: New York

 

Work

How long have you worked at Ideon?

Seven months. I started in July of 2021.

What do you enjoy most about Ideon’s company culture?

There’s a genuinely positive atmosphere at the company. We work hard but we also have fun, which goes a long way in brightening up meetings, especially in a primarily remote working environment.

What is the best part about your job?

The collaboration across teams and willingness to help each other out is fantastic. The learning process at Ideon is endless because of the complexities inherent to our industry and our products. But I feel incredibly lucky to learn from great people every single day.

Tell us about your day-to-day on the product team?

My favorite part of product management is that no two days are the same. My days are a mix of creating innovative products and features for our customers and new internal tooling for our operations team. I also have the privilege of working with Ideon’s marketing, sales, and engineering teams to research, plan, develop, test, launch, and enhance our products.

What attracted you to Ideon’s mission?

I was drawn to Ideon for two reasons. First, the problem we’re solving is incredibly important: people need more choice, transparency, and information to make better decisions about their health insurance and benefits. Second, I wanted an opportunity to work on innovative products. We’re building API infrastructure that has never existed in our industry.

What do you find interesting about managing Ideon’s quoting and decision support (QDS) products?

Over the last five years, the team has done an amazing job establishing our QDS products as the industry leader. Still, there are avenues for us to improve and expand these products. It’s really exciting to face this challenge head-on, through creative problem-solving and analytical thinking.

Life

Favorite activity when you’re not working? 

I love to cook, but recently that has been trumped by the addition of a new furry friend to our family. Now going to the Madison Square dog park is at the top of my list. 

Favorite place you’ve traveled?

Vermont. Not the most exotic, but dirt roads, trees, and fresh air are such a welcome change from my home in NYC.

Interesting fact about yourself…. Go!

Since high school, my claim to fame has been being able to dunk a basketball. I try it out every few months to make sure I can still do it so I’m still clinging to that!

 

Interested in joining our team? Check out Ideon’s careers page.