Tenax Corporation is a Baltimore, MD company specializing in netting and fencing, pipe protection, construction, agricultural and gardening solutions. They have funded their own health plan covering about 90 employees, for more than 20 years. In recent years, Tenax was experiencing significant increases in their health plan cost and asked their innovative benefits advisor Ben Bononowicz in 2021 to help them develop a plan for cost containment. Originally, Tenax’s health plan had an independent third party (TPA) administrator, a traditional rented PPO network and traditional PBM. In strategizing for the 2022 plan year, Ben conducted a full market competition for plan solutions on Tenax’s behalf. The company ended replacing the TPA, the PBM, and the stop loss carrier, resulting in a 6.4% reduction to total maximum liability. To further contain costs, Tenax introduced medical management, telemedicine, and a concierge pharmacy cost containment solution. When comparing Tenax’s total health plan cost in 2021 to 2022, they saved over $400,000.
While these financial benefits have been impressive, they have not come at the cost of patients. Patients benefit from a generous plan design with low deductible ($500) and copays ($20/$30). For any members taking multiple maintenance medications, the concierge pharmacy provides all medications at no cost to the member. Furthermore, members who participate with the concierge pharmacy receive a one-time cash incentive up to $1,000.