Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont Implements CSSI’s Compensation Management System

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont (BCBSVT), Vermont's largest private health carrier, has implemented a Microsoft (Redmond, Wash.) partner compensation management system, Computer Solutions & Software International's (Coconut Creek, Fla.) VUE Compensation Management.

Implemented to overhaul incentive compensation and agent management capabilities, VUE Compensation Management, a Microsoft .NET Framework-based application, has enabled BCBSVT to decouple broker commissions from insurance premiums, reduce manual interventions by 97 percent and go paperless with broker commission statements. According to Microsoft, the insurer has saved nearly a half-million dollars by using the system.

"Since the start of the implementation in March 2007, VUE Compensation Management has enabled us to examine every broker compensation arrangement in place, identifying out-of-date incentive programs and recognizing cases where broker commissions were not leveraging the desired business result," said Ellen Yakubik, marketing director, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont.

Before it used VUE Compensation Management, BCBSVT paid brokers a percentage of insurance premiums, and as these premiums rose, commission payouts increased from $3 million to more than $10 million. The VUE Compensation Management system has allowed BCBSVT to structure commissions on the basis of subscriber contracts or pay-for-performance agreements, rather than having commissions tied only to medical premiums.

In addition, VUE Compensation Management has created a single data store for all broker information and has facilitated BCBSVT to disburse 85 percent of broker payments electronically. By next quarter, BCBSVT expects to process 50 percent of the commission statements electronically. The time spent processing commissions has gone from 65 hours per month to only six, and as the organization continues to go paperless, it expects further savings.

Based on the Microsoft .NET Framework, VUE Compensation Management has delivered a platform to streamline BCBSVT's complex commission and incentive programs. The solution integrates with Microsoft SQL Server 2005, a scalable and highly secure database providing the capabilities needed to store and access large volumes of data present in BCBSVT's commission and incentive programs. BCBSVT utilizes SQL Server Reporting Services to provide comprehensive reporting and the intelligence needed to efficiently run their organization.

Peggy Bresnick Kendler has been a writer for 30 years. She has worked as an editor, publicist and school district technology coordinator. During the past decade, Bresnick Kendler has worked for UBM TechWeb on special financialservices technology-centered ... View Full Bio