eBusiness Weekly
The recent awards Premier Service Medical Aid Society received at the inaugural Insurance Awards is a culmination of the deliberate effort that PSMAS has made to place its members and service providers at the centre of its turnaround process, the Society has said.
“We are fully focused on delivering top notch service to our members and we believe that the findings by an independent research give us confidence that we are moving in the right direction,” the PSMAS public relations manager Arthur Choga said.
“We have moved into a brighter phase of the society and we are now consolidating relations with our stakeholders, many of whom have continued to see our members even in our darker days. The members are the reason for our existence and when we are recognised for excellence in customer service, we feel reinvigorated to go further for our members,” he said.
“We are very clear in our vision, to generate the necessary change in the healthcare industry by providing members with cost effective quality healthcare and products.
“This sums up our work. We began the changes internally with restructuring and coming up with a strategy, and now we are pushing for the improvement of service for our members by promoting and living positive corporate management,” he said.
Service excellence remains the bedrock on which the society is building its base for the next century of service.
PSMAS has entered into far reaching positive partnerships in the course of its turnaround. First, they joined the Deloitte Tip Offs
Anonymous platform, signalling a change in corporate direction into a more open and engaging organisation.
PSMAS has also created the highly popular Premier Lifestyle, a wellness programme that is continues to change the face of the fight against non-communicable diseases in Zimbabwe.
Premier Lifestyle was named as the Most Innovative product in the Health Insurance category of the Insurance awards.
PSMAS came up with Premier Lifestyle in order to tackle the spread of “lifestyle diseases”. These are non-communicable diseases that can be prevented by making the right choices.
Obesity, Type 2 diabetes, stress, high blood pressure can all be prevented by making conscious lifestyle choices including choosing the right diet and the exercising.
“We are certainly delighted by the phenomenal growth of Premier Lifestyle and we believe that it means that we have delivered a product that people were waiting for.
“We are encouraging our members to enrol with this programme as it is life changing. The benefits of living well are impossible to evaluate, but they are worth every effort we make.
“PSMAS is very encouraged by the support that we have received for Premier Lifestyle from members, member organisations and from organisations we are partnering in to ensure a complete wellness package.
“Innovation is a way of life for us, and we will continue to come up with products that are sensitive to the needs of our members and society and that contribute to the well-being of the nation.”
One of the key pillars of the PSMAS turnaround was leveraging on technology. The Society was using software that was over 20 years old and which had been modified over years and had led to several systems which were severely affecting the organisation’s efficiency.
In 2017, the Society purchased an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. The system has increased the efficiency of the organisation by reducing processing time for administrative procedures and registration and membership systems. The total cost of the product is offset by the increase in efficiency meaning that the recovery benefit to the society will see this figure covered.
Being a serious and forward looking organisation, PSMAS made a deliberate commitment and will continue to seek the most efficient technological interventions in order to enhance the member experience.
At this time, the Society is rolling out an online claims management system and a 24-hour contact centre, all which are designed to make the member experience better. The Society will be introducing more technological innovations to help its members manage their health better and to improve their experience of PSMAS.
