Recognizing outstanding health risk management among Group Captive Program members

May 11, 2023 – Hamilton Square, New Jersey – Berkley Accident and Health, a Berkley Company, is proud to announce the recipients of the Risk Achievement of the Year (RAY) Award. RAY Awards are given to Berkley Accident and Health clients who embrace employee health and wellness and who strive to offer affordable, high-quality health benefits to attract and retain their workers. This year’s winners were announced at the 2023 Berkley Captive Symposium and are based on their health risk management efforts in 2022.

Recipients are selected from the employer/members of Berkley’s Stop Loss Group Captive programs. Group Captive programs are designed to allow small and midsize firms to provide sustainable health benefits and come together to better control their overall health spend. Rather than buy traditional health insurance, these companies self-fund their benefits with Stop Loss protection and then join together to share risk in a Group Captive arrangement.

“Berkley Accident and Health is passionate about helping its clients offer affordable and sustainable health benefits,” said Brad N. Nieland, President and CEO, Berkley Accident and Health. “Because of their outstanding focus on employee wellness and health risk management, RAY Award recipients have taken control of their health care spending – and the results are very impressive.”

RAY Award winners are selected from across a variety of programs in Berkley’s portfolio and have shown exceptional dedication to health risk management in the previous year. Winners must demonstrate a strong commitment to the well-being of employees and their families and implement programs that help lower health risk factors and show measurable results. This year, Berkley Accident and Health added a new Platinum award category to recognize a company with continual, sustained achievements.

The 2023 Platinum RAY Award winner is:

Coastal1 Credit Union – Coastal1, a full-service credit union serving Rhode Island and Massachusetts, won the new award for top-tier achievement in risk management. Coastal1 won the Platinum RAY Award for its long-term commitment to promoting employee health, helping to reduce health care costs for employees and their families, and continually raising the bar, year after year. Coastal1’s relentless commitment to employee well-being starts at the top, with a leadership team that is willing to invest in programs that make a difference. The company offers cancer care services, specialty Rx management, organ transplant carve-out, EAP, financial counseling, and light care vision to reduce the impact of blue light. It has also trained its HR team in mental health first aid. Last year, it revamped its fitness center with state-of-the-art equipment and expanded it to accommodate on-site classes. All of this has resulted in per member per month health costs that are 5% lower than other health plans, a 16% increase in the employee health and wellness satisfaction score, and a continual reduction in the number of ER visits per year.

The 2023 First Place winners are:

Caring Place Healthcare Group – Caring Place is a family-owned and operated organization of skilled nursing and senior living communities in Ohio. Caring Place offers their employees medical care at a nearby health clinic, along with full annual physicals and biometric screenings. Employees who use the clinic are improving their key biometric measures and showing a 30% decrease in per month health care costs. Overall, Caring Place has seen an almost $300,000 reduction in health care costs over the past three years.

Cheverus High School – Cheverus is a private, Jesuit college preparatory school in Portland, Maine that has implemented several programs to educate employees on strategies to enjoy high-quality, lower-cost health care. They offer wellness biometrics and health coaching, as well as financial incentives to faculty and staff for making health-conscious decisions. These efforts have enabled employees to reduce their health premium contributions by 10% and saved Cheverus an estimated $1 million over five years through its ongoing cost-savings strategies.  

Methodist Family Health, Inc. – Methodist Family Health is a non-profit organization offering a continuum of inpatient and outpatient behavioral care to youth and families. For the past ten years, the organization has hosted annual health fairs and recently launched a new program that takes a wholistic view of employee wellness – physical, nutritional, emotional, financial, social, and occupational. Methodist Family Health also uses data analytics to thoughtfully design programs with the most impact. As a result of its independent, pioneering approach to fostering a culture of health among employees, the organization has seen its medical costs trending downward. They also have not raised employee premiums in 5 years due to their forward-thinking cost containment strategies.

NRP Jones, LLC – NRP Jones is a family-owned manufacturer of hydraulic hose and fittings with locations in Utah and Indiana. In 2022, the company established a near-site health clinic for their employees and leveraged 340(b) pricing to tackle spending on high-cost specialty medications. In 2021, NRP’s employees collectively paid $31,800 for specialty prescriptions, and one year later, in 2022, they collectively paid $13,100 for specialty prescriptions – a cost reduction of more than half.

Ovation Holdings, Inc. – Ovation Holdings provides maintenance, repair, and operations services to customers in the Midwest needing valve, instrumentation, gas detection, and heat trace solutions. In 2020, the company moved from a fully insured health plan and has seen its budgeted health care expenses drop by more than $1 million. From 2020 to 2022, Ovation Holdings have cumulatively saved $2.9 million through its use of Apta Health’s innovative cost-containment program.

United Plate Glass Company, Inc. – United Plate Glass is a major supplier of architectural glass products with multiple facilities in the mid-Atlantic. The company offers its employees a choice of two health plans – a traditional PPO and a reference-based pricing plan. United Plate Glass takes a robust approach to wellness, offering a wide range of programming, including health screenings, wellness promotions, educational events, and a wellness fair. The company also implemented diabetes and prescription cost-containment programs that have helped to keep health care costs flat. Since 2018, per employee per year costs have increased by only 0.16%.

Woodard & Curran, Inc. – Woodard & Curran is an integrated science, engineering, design-build and operations company specializing in water and environmental projects. Recognizing the connection between mental health and physical health, the company implemented a behavioral health program providing essential mental health support to their employee and their families, resulting in fewer office visits and lower costs from 2021 to 2022. Woodard & Curran also modified its pharmacy plan to encourage employee participation and consumerism and better reflect the cost of high-cost prescriptions.

The 2023 Honorable Mention recipient is:

B & B Manufacturing, Inc. – B&B Manufacturing, which produces and distributes parts for the power transmission and precision mechanical industries, takes a forward-thinking approach to employee health at its headquarters in Indiana. The company implemented a free employee medical clinic, resulting in an increase in employee wellness visits and preventative screenings, even during the challenges of the pandemic. B&B also added cost-containment services for surgical procedures and specialty Rx, which has led to an average annual health care cost per employee that is well below the national average.

About Berkley Accident and Health

Berkley Accident and Health is a member of W. R. Berkley Corporation, a Fortune 500 company. Berkley Accident and Health provides an innovative portfolio of accident and health insurance products. It offers four categories of products: Employer Stop Loss, Group Captives, Managed Care (including HMO Reinsurance and Provider Excess), and Specialty Accident. It underwrites Stop Loss coverage through Berkley Life and Health Insurance Company, rated A+ (Superior) by A.M. Best. For more information, please visit BerkleyAH.com.

BAH AD 2023-97