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OptumRx, Irvine, CA

Gold Stevie Award Winner 2012, Click to Enter The 2014 American Business Awards

Company: OptumRx, Irvine, CA
Company Description: OptumRx is more than just a mail order pharmacy. We are a focused, collaborative, and innovative leader in the pharmacy benefit management (PBM) industry. Today, we serve more than 13.5 million people through our state-of-the-art mail service pharmacies and a national network of more than 67,000 community pharmacies. We manage prescription drug benefits of commercial, Medicare, and government.
Nomination Category: Customer Service & Call Center Awards Team Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Customer Service Management Team of the Year

Nomination Title: Team of Performance Drivers

Tell the story about what this nominated team achieved since the beginning of July 2013 (up to 650 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

Led by a performance driven leadership team of Mark Knudson - Senior Vice President, Matt Palacio – Vice President and Debra Clarke – Vice President, OptumRx is more than just a mail order pharmacy. We are a focused, collaborative, and innovative leader in the pharmacy benefit management (PBM) industry. Today, we serve more than 30 million people through our state-of-the-art mail service pharmacies and a national network of more than 67,000 community pharmacies. We manage prescription drug benefits for a variety of clients of all sizes including, but not limited to, Part D Government business, labor and trust, health plans and employers.

This management team has faced one of the most challenging periods since our company’s inception. In the past year, OptumRx has added 12 million additional members, more than doubling the amount of customers we serve. The objective in this massive transition was to maintain standards of customer excellence while seamlessly incorporating members into our existing business, enabling our company to realize unprecedented growth.

To be successful, we needed to differentiate our company from competitors in unique ways. Exceptional Customer Service became our focus. We rolled out an innovative program called Brand Ambassador, which was to raise the bar from good customer service to great customer service. Our customer service representatives are called Customer Service Advocates (CSA) and they serve as the advocate to our members. They act in the members’ best interest and support them by guiding and educating members while navigating their prescription benefits. CSA attended several sessions of small group trainings which included case studies, role playing and practical application designed to develop and enhance empathy and compassion for our members.

Another item the team focused on was paying attention to what our members were telling us about how they were being notified. Most members preferred to be contacted about their prescriptions via email versus phone calls or regular mail. Armed with this information, the team launched an email address capture campaign designed to allow members to select email as their primary means of communication with OptumRx. As of July 30, 2014, we had 2.6 million email addresses and reduced our outbound automated call volume by 65%. More than half of our membership now uses email as their preferred method of contact. This project will provide $2 million in savings per year and has largely improved member satisfaction.

Financial growth is always a major goal for any organization, including OptumRx. In Q2 of 2013, we had a significant amount of uncollected accounts receivables related to mail service orders totaling $1.5 million per month. Under the leadership of the management team mentioned above, our Customer Service team implemented efforts to obtain payment upfront for most orders and worked to collect payment from past due accounts. These efforts resulted in a 66% drop in accounts receivables per month by the Q2 of 2014. The efforts to reduce the uncollected dollars also led to a 50% drop in associated calls providing additional annual savings.

Our CEO, Dirk McMahon made a prediction about our company at the beginning of the year, “In terms of our corporate values I think the one that OptumRx is focused on this year is performance. In this year of such change, especially with the migration of so many members to OptumRx, performance has got to be paramount. If we execute well on that transition, ultimately we’re poised to take off and grow like a rocket over the next few years.”

Under the management team of Mark, Matt and Debra, performance has been the driving force behind key changes and initiatives to improve and grow our business over the previous year. They have promoted a culture within our company that puts the member first and supports the corporate mission of helping our members and employees to live healthier lives.

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