February 22, 2005
Madison--eflexgroup.com, a unique, self-service third-party administrator (TPA) marks a milestone five-years in business.
The company, which administers pre-tax employee benefits, cafeteria plans, Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRAs), Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and COBRA, was co-founded by Ric Joyner and Tom Jacobs just before the year 2000 celebrations got underway. "Ric and I worked together for many years and could see that employee benefit plans, especially cafeteria plans, could be easier with a self-service model," said Jacobs. Having both been in the TPA industry, they decided it was time start offering flex plans that were easier?easier to explain, easier to understand, easier to access, easier to use, and easier to get your money back.
So, with the turn of the 21st century, eflexgroup.com turned out an entirely new kind of TPA with a state-of-the-art web site, internal systems, and a trained staff to allow customers to service themselves 24/7/365. And it worked. "The new millennium just seemed like the perfect time to launch an internet-based employee benefits company," said Joyner.
When eflexgroup.com opened its doors five years ago, the Internet was just beginning to affect the TPA business. This technology created the need for a TPA that was flexible, had standardized products for easy deployment, and web interface for self service. "TPAs are traditionally labor and paper intensive," offered Jacobs. "Ric and I felt that creating self-service tools, a better product, and a great price would prove attractive to the market." Fortunately, that premise proved true as shown by the company’s growth of nearly 1,200 new employers per year.
It’s just that kind of forethought that’s also made eflexgroup.com one of the nation’s leaders in self-service administration in just five years of operation. "People in the industry thought we were a little nuts at first," said Jacobs. "But we were able to sell the concept to 33 employer groups in our first year." Today, the company’s growth has exploded. The 36 employees at eflexgroup.com now service nearly 4,000 employer groups across the nation.
"We took a traditional business, flipped it inside out, and made it into a self-service model," said Joyner. "In fact, our web site experiences 1.3 million hits a month," he added.
"We are thrilled with the rapid growth we have experienced over the last five years and even more excited about our expected growth in the future," said Joyner. "Our vision, when we opened our doors five years ago was to ‘be the number one web-based flex and COBRA provider in the country.’ We’re already about there."
In addition to running a successful company, Joyner and Jacobs are taking their show on the road with continuing education seminars and programs that address the future of employee benefits.
"Our calendars are getting pretty full," said Joyner. "That’s because we’ve broken new ground in an otherwise traditional and labor-intensive business." Employers, carriers, and brokers want to be able to apply the company’s self-service principles to their own businesses because it can save them money. And, as the pioneers in this new self-service market, Jacobs and Joyner are in high demand.
Joyner, eflexgroup.com President, left a firm he co-founded in 1988 to start eflexgroup.com. He is also the Founding President of the National Association of Professional Benefit Administrators that serves the niche TPA business, COBRA, Flex, HRAs, and HSAs. He is a Certified Flexible Compensation Instructor and is a candidate in both the Certified Employee Benefit Specialist and GBA designation programs. Joyner is currently a junior at Capella University of Technology, in Minneapolis seeking a BS in Computer Information Technology. An author and lecturer, Joyner lives in Sun Prairie, WI with his family.
Jacobs, eflexgroup.com CEO and General Counsel, was formerly President of QTI Human Resources, Inc. and had a private law practice specializing in employment law and insurance defense litigation before starting eflexgroup.com. He is a national lecturer on consumerism in health care and pre-tax employee benefits. He also serves on the board of Directors of the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations, is a member of the NAPEO Legal Advisory Council, and is a lecturer for the PEO University. In addition, Jacobs, a member of the National Association of Health Underwriters, was a co-founder of the National Association of Professional Benefits Administrators (NAPBA). He is also Chairman of the Wisconsin State Bar Association Insurance for Members Board. Jacobs’ degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison include Juris Doctor, MBA, and BA in Economics. He lives in Madison, WI with his family.
eflexgroup.com is a national web-based third-party administrator of pre-tax employee benefits, HRAs, HSAs, Cafeteria Plans, and COBRA Administration. eflexgroup.com is headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, at 3001 West Beltline Highway.
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