Happy New Year! 2007 was a great year that brought many changes to both Crosby and to our industry. Though we’ve endured many changes in the last year, our ongoing commitment to deliver cost-effective, creative solutions and exceptional personalized service to you and your employees has never strayed. Here is a quick recap of what we accomplished, introduced and completed in the year 2007 with a look ahead to 2008. 

MyCrosbyBenefits.com: Though it officially launched in December of 2006, MyCrosbyBenefits.com evolved during 2007 into a robust and secure participant website. Participants have provided helpful feedback and many compliments. Our "participant portal" offers easy access to reimbursement account information, including Medical and Dependent Care FSAs, Limited Scope FSAs (new in ’07), HRAs (new in ’07) and Parking Reimbursement Accounts. Our FAQ section was overhauled and certain user functionalities, such as Forgot Username and Forgot Password have been added or updated. Finally, the ability to view more transaction details has been enhanced. Look for more great enhancements during 2008. 

Crosby’s Branded Flex Debit Card:
Beginning in May, the Crosby Flex Debit Card received a new look, including our Crosby Benefits People logo. Debit cards are becoming an increasingly useful tool for consumer directed health plans with HSA and HRA components. The card allows for "one stop swiping" as it can draw from a FSA, HRA and HSA – in whatever order your plan dictates.   

Benefit Fair Season / Boosting Enrollment: After an extremely busy and successful Benefit Fair season, we would like to thank all of our clients who invited us to participate at their Benefit Fairs. In conjunction with these fairs, we launched our first successful Boosting Enrollment Campaign and achieved our goal of helping you, our clients, increase Flexible Spending Account participation. Both the campaign and the fairs offer valuable insight into why they are favorable for both employers and employees: 

• Employees get easy access to information that will help them make educated benefits decisions.
  
  
• Employees can ask questions related to their specific needs one on one with representatives.
  
  
• Employees save time when they attend a fair. It is a one stop shop for all of their benefits needs.
  
  
• Questions that might otherwise filter through Human Resources can be addressed with the appropriate party.
  
  
• We often find a positive impact on FSA enrollment when we attend benefits fairs. The greater tax savings is a win-win for you and your employees.

Attending these events is a great opportunity for Crosby to be visibly accessible to speak with our clients and both existing and potential participants. We enjoy talking about our benefit offerings and the value of utilizing them and we look forward to seeing you at your 2008 Benefit fair.

HIRD Form Distribution & Management: With MA Health Care Reform in full swing, legislation requires employers to collect Employee HIRD (Health Insurance Responsibility Disclosure) Forms from employees who decline employer-sponsored health insurance or the employer’s Section 125 Plan. In light of these regulations, Crosby has added a new service to help you distribute, track and store Employee HIRD Forms.  

SAS 70 Phase I Completed: Crosby's pursuit of its SAS 70 designation comes as part of a larger quality initiative that began in 2006. The purpose of the initiative is to create and promote a culture of quality at Crosby, empowering all employees to participate in our quest for 100% accuracy. We strive to exceed the expectations of each of our clients and provide excellent service to them. By accomplishing this, we enable our clients to become more strategy-focused and thus more successful. Our SAS 70 audit process is now one step further toward this goal and the final Phase I report will be available soon. SAS 70 Phase II is expected to be completed by Fall 2008.  

Enhanced Electronic Reporting for COBRA: We continued our efforts to reduce outbound paper reports, by rolling out COBRA Electronic Reporting. The full range of pertinent data has been made available through two multi-tabbed spreadsheets that combine all information previously provided on our paper reports in an easy to use, searchable format.  

Service Webinars: During 2007, we launched our first interactive series of free webinars for both clients and prospects. We’ll continue to offer these free informational sessions throughout 2008. The schedule will be posted soon and additional topics, such as the Flex Debit Card, will be added to the list of presentations.  

Trade Shows and Conferences: During 2007, Crosby participated in numerous trade shows and conferences and we’ll continue to attend more in 2008. These events provide opportunities for us to gain exposure and enhance brand and service visibility in the marketplace. Keep an eye on our Crosby Connection Calendar for upcoming events.   

2008 has lots in store for Crosby: This year, we will be introducing a handful of new and improved client and participant systems, interfaces and enhancements including:  

• A brand new CrosbyBenefits.com website.
  
  
• New informational materials related to our products and services.
  
  
• The transition to a web-based billing system – offering both COBRA and Direct Billing clients and participants secure access to information and tools.
  
  
• Introduction of "online claims submission" through MyCrosbyBenefits.com – allowing participants to enter expense items and upload images of receipts/bills directly through our secure web-portal.
  
  
• Introduction of our "employer extranet" – which will offer clients a secure website to deliver and receive information. This will allow for a secure yet easy option for report retrieval and storage.
  
  
• Introduction of "pay the provider" – which will allow reimbursement participants the option of having payments from an FSA or HRA be made directly to the service provider, creating less of a drain on take-home pay.
  
  
• General enhancements to our network and overall technology foundation. These changes are closely tied to other infrastructure development that includes security analysis and disaster recovery/business continuity planning.

Crosby Benefit Systems is always focused on developing and improving our services and your input is critical to our continued success. If you have any feedback about our products and or services, or any questions, please feel free to contact your Crosby consultant at anytime.