It’s a great – and not easy to answer – question. Defined contribution brings a new choice and empowerment to our customers – but it also reveals how tricky it can be to determine exactly what level will meet your needs today and in the future.

So, how can consumers strike the right balance between ensuring they have the necessary coverage to pay their bills when they are sick, but not so much where they are wasting money on coverage they don’t need?

In a perfect world you’d have just enough coverage to help pay for all of your out-of-pocket medical expenses, both anticipated and unanticipated—this includes everything from routine exams, prescription coverage, and minor illnesses, all the way to emergency-room visits, surgery or disease treatment.  Without knowing what might fall in the “unanticipated costs” category, you might have to make some tough choices.

That’s where Bloom can help.

If you’re a Bloom member, our technology does the work for you. Our assessment—designed with the help of behavioral psychologists and scientists—helps recommend health plans that we’ve identified as a good fit for you.

By answering a few questions that only take about five minutes to complete, Bloom can assess a member’s health status, financial situation, and appetite for risk—all factors that help us recommend a health insurance plan that will be a good match.

As an Advisor helping our members find that perfect plan, they’re tasked with an important, and sometimes difficult, job. But we’re seeing our members enrolling in plans that can actually meet their coverage needs – as we like to say, no more one-size-fits-all approach. And in a world of expanded choices, it’s a lot easier to find a plan that feels like it was made just for you.

Health Datapalooza is a national conference that brings together startups, product developers and public policy leaders to discuss and present innovation in the growing world of health data. Keynote speakers at this year’s HDI Forum include U.S. Chief Technology Officer, Todd Park and Physician and Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist.

In addition to our selection for the Apps & Demo Expo, Bloom CEO, Abir Sen, is a featured panelist in the Business Roundtable discussion alongside other entrepreneurs and national business leaders.

We are excited to feature application demonstrations during the Apps & Demo Expo and answer visitors’ questions about our Defined Contribution Private Exchange solution.

For more information on the HDI Forum, please visit hdiforum.org

Bloom Health’s software applications include consumer-facing websites, operations management applications and internal software systems. The Technical Software Development Lead will report to the Director of Software Engineering.

Responsibilities include directing development, leadership through coaching and mentoring, growing our software engineering team and partnering with our Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to advise on strategic technology decisions and implementations Bloom is responsible for.

The Director of Software Engineering will report to our CTO and will play a large role in the construction and definition of our software applications; including consumer-facing websites, operations management applications and internal software systems.

This story got me thinking about all the other consumers who have been in this woman’s shoes, and dealt with inadequate customer service. Poor service often isn’t really about customer service representatives who are apathetic toward their customers’ concerns. Instead, I think poor customer service can be attributed to representatives who are apathetic toward the actual company for whom they work.

At Bloom, we know that the more our frontline employees—those who are the first point of contact for our customers—are excited about our company and what we do, the better service they will provide.

Here are a couple of key principles we follow at Bloom Health as we strive to create the best customer service experience in health care:

1. Create a consistent experience across the organization

We don’t limit customer service to one department—we expect great customer service across the company. While we have a knowledgeable and dedicated service team on the phone, we also rely on folks from other areas to support our customer-centered approach. By making our web experience user-friendly and free of insurance jargon, we strive to make our customers as comfortable as possible. We view our web experience and our phone experience as manifestations of the same product. It is this collaborative approach across the company that makes our customer experience unique.

2. Customer service should not be measured in numbers alone

Traditional metrics like average talk time or number of calls answered do not capture other important interpersonal characteristics of customer service. This approach lacks connectivity across departments. Also, what customer wants to be regarded as a number? In an ever-increasing service-oriented industry, it is more important than ever that we innovate when it comes to measuring our customers’ experience.

3. Each interaction with a customer is your most valuable R&D opportunity

An incoming phone call for help logging in or a quick question about the plan options is worth a lot to us because it provides us data on what issues are members are having that we need to create solutions for. I’m always on the hunt for opportunities to better understand our members’ point of view and relay that back to the rest of Bloom so we could make the experience better next time.

We firmly believe that as we continue to bring new solutions to the health benefits industry, a new and better way of providing customer service will be critical to our success. At the end of the day, customer service is our product.

- Holly Hoheisel, Advisor Team Lead

High-value networks offer a competitive advantage to both employees and employers. By partnering with one or a select few health care networks – like Doctor offices & hospitals – health insurance companies can dramatically reduce the premium costs for these plans. As Rob states, “By offering a smaller range of often less-expensive doctors, you can cut your costs by as much as 25%.”

In 2011, Minnesota-based health plan Medica, introduced My Plan by Medica ^sm, a defined contribution private exchange solution, in partnership with Bloom. My Plan helps employers control rising healthcare costs while providing more choice for their employees.

Medica and Fairview Health Services, one of Minnesota’s largest health care provider systems, recently announced the addition of the first Accountable Care Organization (ACO) to the My Plan private exchange. Called Fairview Health Advantage with Medica ^sm this new ACO is the first of its kind in the region and brings more choice, flexibility and savings to Minnesota employers and their employees.

Bloom is excited to continue working with our partners to deliver innovative solutions to controlling health care costs.

For more information about My Plan by Medica and Fairview Health Advantage, please visit Medica’s website at: www.medica.com/myplanbymedica/

This position will be an important part of the design, development and management of our software applications. The Bloom Health software applications include consumer-facing websites, operations management applications and internal software systems.

This position will be an important part of the design, development and management of our software applications. The Bloom Health software applications include consumer-facing websites, operations management applications and internal software systems.