Watco Takes Benefits to the Web With BluesEnroll
10 May 2005
Watco Companies, Inc. (Watco) has become the first group with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas to bring their 1,200 employees online using web-based benefits software, BluesEnroll.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas (BCBSKS) contracted with Benefitfocus.com in September 2004 to provide electronic benefit enrollment to the carrier's groups. Watco is the first company to go live using the software. The Pittsburg, Kansas-based company operates 13 short line railroads and operates in 19 states, as well as operating industrial switching locations and mechanical and locomotive shops across the United States. Watco is the largest privately owned holding company of short line railroads in the country and has grown 25% year-over-year for the last five years.
"Five years ago we were at 750 employees; today we have 1,200," said Tim Lundberg, Director of Human Resources for Watco Companies, Inc. "With the amount of opportunity in the rail industry, we could double in size in the next couple of years. We need the infrastructure to accomplish that, and BluesEnroll will help us meet our needs."
Powered by Benefitfocus.com, the BluesEnroll application replaces Watco's traditional paper-based enrollment and administration. It is easy-to-use and delivered via the Internet. A key feature of the software is the one-to-many database design that integrates easily with insurance carrier, payroll and human resources information systems. It supports open enrollment, new hire enrollment, ongoing maintenance and COBRA.
"We are excited to bring Watco and all of its employees live with BluesEnroll," said Shawn Jenkins, President and CEO of Benefitfocus. "We've built technology and services that will work for almost any type of business: construction companies, grocery stores, hotels, you name it. Currently our list of clients insures over 12.5 million members, and carriers continue to pick us over the competition."
"The application is easy and user friendly, and training for our human resources administrators took less than two weeks," said Lundberg. "I'm looking forward to the record keeping and report making capabilities. We can track how many changes we make in a quarter-how many hires and terminations."
Watco's employees can make changes to their benefits online, not only for health insurance, but for W-2 forms, direct deposit and life and disability insurance. A link on the company website allows employees to self-enroll or to make changes during open enrollment. Additional links to BCBSKS prompts employees to review health plans and summary documents; they can click to claims administration and see what claims have been paid to which providers and the amount paid out of pocket.
Watco expects a significant return on investment from increased efficiency and accuracy. "With 170 locations, employees would fax their forms to us with incomplete information. We'd have to go back and forth several times to get their complete information, and sometimes the forms got lost," explained Lundberg. "Now we have a record of every transaction through BluesEnroll. And the employee can't move to the next screen unless all the information is complete, so you have 100 percent accuracy every time."
About Benefitfocus
Benefitfocus.com, Inc. is a leading provider of software and services for employee benefits. Its suite of products and services includes large and small group electronic enrollment, electronic billing and data exchange services. Noted for ease-of-use, the Benefitfocus applications allow users the ability to find information and make changes on all employer-sponsored benefit programs. In turn, the applications link and seamlessly exchange data with payroll vendors and benefit providers, reducing errors and costs associated with traditional paper-based forms. Benefitfocus allows companies to focus on the benefits rather than the paperwork. Benefitfocus can be reached at 843- 849-7476 or via the Internet at www.benefitfocus.com .
About Watco Companies, Inc.
Watco Companies, Inc. (Watco), a Pittsburg, Kansas, based company, operates 13 other short line railroads and operates in 19 states. The Mississippi Southern Railroad joins Watco's other railroads, the South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad, the Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad, the KAW River Railroad, the Stillwater Central Railroad, the Timber Rock Railroad, the Eastern Idaho Railroad, the Palouse River and Coulee City Railroad, the Pennsylvania Southwestern Railroad, the Great Northwest Railroad, the Mission Mountain Railroad and the Appalachian & Ohio Railroad. Watco also operates industrial switching locations and mechanical and locomotive shops across the United States.
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Source: Benefitfocus.com, Inc
Source: PR Newswire
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