Blackstone Group’s Equity Healthcare has selected ConSova Corporation as the preferred dependent eligibility partner for its 40+ affiliated companies.
Through this agreement, ConSova joins forces with Equity Healthcare to offer a full range of health care cost containment solutions to the companies within the Blackstone Group’s global asset management portfolio as well as other affiliated private equity firms. Equity Healthcare’s companies will gain access to best-of-breed solutions for Dependent Eligibility Verification, Working Spouse Provision Audits and Ongoing Verification Services.
Equity Healthcare, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Blackstone Group, leverages the scale of the combined purchasing power of its portfolio companies to contract for services aimed at delivering better quality health care, while driving down costs. By collaborating with ConSova, Equity Healthcare is able to help its members strengthen their commitment to running benefit plans in a fiscally responsible manner and gain control over a major cost factor.
“We ran a rigorous RFP process which evaluated the best firms in this space. Because of their commitment to service and innovative approach, ConSova separated themselves from the field and was the clear choice for us,” says Dr Robert Galvin, Chief Executive Officer of Equity Healthcare.
The health care cost containment solutions offered by ConSova afford Equity Healthcare members the opportunity to meaningfully reduce their annual health care spend. These savings are achieved through the identification of ineligible dependents (5-8 per cent of covered dependents on average) currently covered on the plan and through the implementation of Other Coverage Verification for those organisations with working spouse rules.
Pressed between rising health care costs and mandatory health insurance rules, an increasing number of employers are looking to working spouse provisions to help contain costs. The adoption of spousal surcharges and exclusion rules (also known as carve-out rules) has created the need for verification of other coverage available at a spouse’s employer. ConSova has pioneered a Working Spouse Provision Audit that enables health plans to achieve 30 per cent participation rates in these programs, well above the 8.3 per cent average participation experienced by employers without proper verification mechanisms in place.
“Our ability to quickly deliver bottom line results will be a great fit for Equity Healthcare’s portfolio companies and is well aligned with their mission,” says John Cratin, SVP, ConSova Corporation. “We embrace the opportunity to work with the private equity community and share in their commitment to strengthen member health plans through greater cost containment and risk avoidance.”
