Spotlight on Discovery Benefits

Every month, FSAstore.com features one of our valued partners as part of our newsletter. This month, we are pleased to present a partnership spotlight on Discovery Benefits. Based in North Dakota, Discovery Benefits transforms the complexity of employee benefits administration with innovative solutions and extraordinary customer service delivered by empowered and knowledgeable employees.

Thanks to Discovery Benefits' Partner Integration Executive, Jonas Sauve, for interviewing with us.

1. What makes Discovery Benefits unique in the FSA administrator world? Congrats on recently winning a 2013 "Best Places to Work" award (the fourth year in a row)!

Thank you! Discovery Benefits takes a lot of pride in winning Best Places to Work from Business Insurance four years in a row. We work hard to create an environment that encourages people to voice their ideas and take those ideas into actions.

Discovery Benefits sets itself apart with innovative technology solutions and exceptional customer service. We take our industry expertise and adapt solutions to fit our partners’ needs. Bringing a partner on is just the first step, we then need to ensure the partnership is a success with education and support.

2. Discovery Benefits is a new addition to the partner family. How would you gauge your partnership experience so far? Did having access to the site help participants avoid losing funds at the end of the year?

Our experience with FSAstore.com has been very positive. We work closely with our Partner Development Manager, who has been extremely hands on, detailed, and responsive. The relationship has been so successful because FSAstore.com not only shares their best practices, but has been willing to adjust their approach and customize materials to best fit our organization. There is no doubt having access to FSAstore.com helps our participants easily use their reimbursement account and ease any worries about losing funds. We foresee a long lasting successful relationship with FSAstore.com for many years to come.

3. How do you keep participants aware of upcoming FSA deadlines? How do the partnership materials (emails, banners, etc.) help? Can you discuss the importance of having a specific landing page for your participants?

Discovery provides participants with monthly account statements via email. The account statements include FSA deadlines, as well as their remaining balance. Additionally, participants have access to FSA deadlines via the Discovery Benefits mobile app and participant portal. It is very beneficial to have a landing page dedicated to the FSAstore.com that we can direct our participants to. It is one more way to make spending easier.

4. In what ways are you keeping your participants abreast of changes to their FSAs (Treasury Dept. change to Use it or Lose it, or Health Care Reform)?What was Discovery's position on the U.S. Treasury changes to the "Use it or Lose it" rule?

Discovery sends emails to clients and partners whenever there is a legislative change that impacts the administration of their plan or may affect how they design their plan. If applicable, information may also be attached for distribution to participants, keeping communication open and clear is a key to successful partnership. Discovery also includes legislative updates on its web site via the Discovery Benefits Blog.

We believe the changes to the Use It or Lose It Rule will increase participation in the FSA as it relieves the worry of participants losing funds. Now participants can have some peace of mind that unused funds will remain in their account for use in the following plan year.

5. What are your participants most confused about when it comes to their FSAs? [for example: Do you get repeat questions about what's eligible, or confusion about Health Care Reform?]

Most participant confusion revolves around what is eligible under the plan and what expenses will require additional documentation.

6. Does Discovery Benefits communicate about important changes to FSAs, HSAs and HRAs on your blog and social media? How important is an active social media presence to Discovery Benefits?

Yes, Discovery communicates legislative changes through its Blog and Twitter feed. Social media plays an important role for Discovery as it allows us multiple avenues for staying in contact with our partners.

7. Consumers are often confused about what's covered by their employee benefits. How can the industry overall improve education efforts on FSAs, HSAs and HRAs? Can you share a great story about how our partnership has helped your participants?

We introduced FSAstore.com in December to participants that had a plan year ending 12/31/13, had funds available in their account, and did not have the grace period available to them. In other words, we initially only introduced FSAstore.com to participants that would benefit from it the most and this resulted in participants spending over $250,000 in less than two weeks. We saw many purchases over $500 and one totaling over $2,000. These numbers show the ease and convenience that FSAstore.com brings to participants looking to get the most out of their Flexible Spending Accounts.

Many thanks to Discovery Benefits for sharing their partnership experience with us! Check out Discovery Benefits onTwitter and their blog.

Want to be included in next month's spotlight? Let usknow!

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