MESSA's call center was named a “ Center of Excellence ” by The Center for Customer - Driven Quality at Purdue University and BenchmarkPortal.[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="502" caption="Messa Call Center"] East Lansing – January 18, 2007 – MESSA's Benefits call center has been recognized for superior performance and providing outstanding customer service to MESSA members. MESSA's call center was named a “ Center of Excellence ” by The Center for Customer - Driven Quality at Purdue University and BenchmarkPortal. In order to be certified as a “ Center of Excellence ,” MESSA's Benefits call center had to meet or exceed key performance indicators and metrics established by BenchmarkPortal as standards of quality, cost-efficiency and best practices. MESSA's call center is one of only four in the state of Michigan named “Centers of Excellence.” “MESSA exceeds benchmark standards in both efficient and effective performance as compared to its industry peers," said BenchmarkPortal Lead Auditor Dru Phelps. MESSA is a Michigan-based not-for-profit membership organization that provides unique medical benefit packages to about 88,000 school employees throughout the state. MESSA serves about 50 percent of the education market in Michigan.
In its 2006 member survey MESSA received a 98 percent satisfaction score from its members. “This award is an important milestone for MESSA,” MESSA Executive Director Cynthia Irwin said. “Our members have always expressed high satisfaction with our service and products. This recognition by the industry leader in benchmarking call center quality is further confirmation of our business model and practices. Our tradition of providing outstanding service efficiently is one of the key factors that has helped MESSA earn and keep the intense loyalty of its members.” “Rising medical and pharmaceutical costs coupled with Michigan 's perilous budget situation make it very important for MESSA to be extremely efficient and a wise steward of our members' premium dollars,” Irwin added. “Having our Member Benefits call center honored as a ‘ Center of Excellence ' is a tribute to our employees' efforts to provide outstanding member service and our leadership in providing that service efficiently.” During the 2005-2006 plan year MESSA's Benefits call center handled more than 200,000 phone calls. The entire Benefits Department also handled 710,000 pieces of mail and saved MESSA members almost $37 million by coordinating benefits and by participating in Blue Cross Blue Shield's out-of-state claims billing process. MESSA's business model has been praised elsewhere by other independent experts as well. The Hay Group, an actuarial firm commissioned by the Michigan Legislature in 2005 to conduct the first-ever comprehensive study of Michigan's education insurance market, told legislators MESSA was “very well run,” efficient and impressive. Hay Group actuaries also said that MESSA's business model of pooling school employees into large pools was very efficient and that it had already saved just about all of the savings available in its market due to size and efficiencies.
About BenchmarkPortal BenchmarkPortal is the custodian of the Purdue Research Foundation database of contact center performance metrics, the largest such database in the world. Data is collected in conjunction with the Center for Customer-Driven Quality at Purdue University . In 2005, BenchmarkPortal received U.S. Patent #6,877,034 for its unique methodology of call center performance evaluation through metric gap analysis. They provide reports, products and services for contact centers in the areas of operational metrics, customer satisfaction measurement and agent satisfaction measurement. For further research information visit www.BenchmarkPortal.com For more information contact: Susan Hampton (805) 614-0123 ext. 36 SusanHampton@BenchmarkPortal.com
About MESSA MESSA is a not-for-profit membership organization chartered in 1960 to serve the health insurance needs of Michigan school employees. Based in East Lansing , MESSA serves about half of the education insurance market in Michigan . Since its creation MESSA has pooled small employee groups into larger pools to spread risk and save money for its members and school districts. MESSA designs its own unique benefit plan designs based on the needs of school employees. Discover more about MESSA at www.messa.org . For Additional Information Contact: Gary Fralick, MESSA Director of Communications and Government Relations 517.336.4077 gfralick@messa.org
