6 Traits of a Great Consulting Partner

In the world of Medicare and Medicaid, choosing a consulting partner to help streamline your health plan’s operations can be tricky. While a company or individual may be well-versed in best practices for project management or operational efficiency, they may not understand the unique requirements of the payer market – making them less than effective at addressing your needs.

With that in mind, below are six traits to look for when choosing a consulting partner to work with your health plan:

1. Expertise. When working with a third-party vendor, it’s important to find one with a deep industry knowledge and hands-on experience in the payer landscape. While some consultants can provide generic recommendations, a true industry expert will view your organization and/or departments on a holistic level and then drill down into specific recommendations that help improve operations.

2. Flexibility. One size does not fit all, particularly when it comes to addressing the needs of health plans’ marketing and compliance departments. And as your health plan grows, your needs will inevitably change. You need a consulting partner that understands your pain points and can quickly adapt to your needs and provide customized solutions.

3. Integrity. It goes without saying that you should work with people you trust. And never is that more important than when selecting a consulting partner. Based on your needs, a consultant may be looking at sensitive information such as financials, member information and much more. While HIPAA-compliance is a must, working with someone that you trust, who is looking out for your plan’s best interest is also important.

4. Productivity. In terms of consulting, productivity is two-fold. Your consulting partner should be productive, and they should also help you identify ways to increase productivity and eliminate waste in your organization. For instance, identifying ways to streamline processes rather than adding a full-time employee.

5. Strategy. Government rules and regulations are continually changing, meaning that your strategy for success must also adapt. A strong consulting partner is one who is keeping abreast of these changes and proactively looking for ways to improve business processes and enhance operations.

6. Tools. An added bonus is a consultant that can provide you with the tools you need to implement improvements throughout your health plan. This will help ensure success after the consulting engagement has ended and your team is left to execute recommendations on their own.

At Cody, our team of experts has an average of more than 20 years of experience working at and for health plans across the nation. We know what health plan member communications, product and compliance directors go through on a daily basis because we’ve been there.

With a wide-ranging list of services and solutions, our customized approach to consulting can grow and change with your health plan, from compliance and marketing communications consulting to document accuracy assessments.

Our proprietary suite of software, CodySoft®, is also designed specifically for health plans and their complex environment, and is a seamless extension of our consulting services.

For more information on our consulting services, contact us today.