Americas Health Insurance Plans: TopClass LMS Case Study

TopClass LMS manages blended learning and certification with seamless iMIS integration for America’s Health Insurance Plans.

“WBT systems’ approach was different. They understand the association market and worked with us to put a flexible pricing model in place so that the upfront costs were not prohibitive. They also pulled out all the stops to meet our 6 month implementation timeline.” - Raffaele Vitelli, Director of Operations Center for Insurance Education & Professional Development

eLearning Challenge

America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) is a national association that represents 1,300 health insurance plans and provides coverage to more than 200 million Americans. AHIP is a leader in health insurance education. 

AHIP’s center for Insurance Education and Professional Development needed to find an alternative way of providing a better education service for health insurance and healthcare professionals – one that provided additional educational content, the ability to produce and administer courses online, and gave AHIP the possibility to offer better customer service while reducing operating costs. They also wanted to boost course enrollments and customer satisfaction with education services. 

The Solution

AHIP needed a web-based learning management system to introduce online learning. They identified 12 LMS vendors and after rigorous evaluation selected WBT Systems TopClass LMS. Selection was based on best fit for their needs and a flexible pricing model that offered good value for their money. WBT Systems also provided a rapid deployment to meet AHIP’s six month implementation deadline to coincide with the start of their upcoming semester.

TopClass LMS fulfilled these important AHIP requirements:

• The bundling of courses into certifications that could be purchased online and completed by learners over multiple semesters. 
• Tiered pricing to accommodate members, non-members and sales promotions within the online checkout process.
• Tracking of certifications and re-certifications with the ability for learners to print their own certificates.
• The ability for Educational Coordinators at member companies to have a dashboard view of employee training history with gap analysis and effective cross-selling using TopClass to link complementary products and then automatically recommend during and after purchase. 
• Integration with other AHIP systems including iMIS member database, Tasco, their product fulfilment system, and Epicor financial software.

TopClass Results

AHIP is an excellent example of a rapid deployment of a Learning Management System. AHIP was up and running, offering a selection of online courses for purchase in less than six months. The benefits that AHIP has already achieved by using TopClass LMS are significant and include:

Enhanced education & training offering

In a very short time frame, AHIP has expanded its education offering from 32 self-study courses (pre-TopClass LMS) to a wide selection of courses and products, available in a variety of formats including online, self-study, text books, and live workshops. All offerings can be purchased online. Today learners are offered higher quality educational resources via a more convenient channel that’s accessible 24/7.

Better customer service

Since implementing TopClass AHIP has registered a noticeable decline in inbound customer support queries through their 800 number and support email. For instance, in the month of January 2009 AHIP recorded 19.7% less calls than the same month of 2008. 

Improved operations at AHIP

TopClass automates many previously manual tasks and processes – such as managing and tracking of enrollments, grades, certifications. This has resulted in fewer errors, faster responses to queries, and speedier turn around times for orders.

Additional Services and Support

WBT Systems also arranged the creation of online versions of AHIP’s course material, through our partner Fusion Productions. Fusion provided consulting and developed online course content for AHIP, based on the textbook-based courses offered by AHIP. They also trained AHIP on Articulate Presenter, so that they could become self-sufficient with eLearning course development.

Looking to the Future

The implementation of TopClass LMS at AHIP has opened a number opportunities for further business growth and expansion. AHIP has plans to offer member companies a more tailored service with customized course content and a branded system user interface that matches corporate look and feel. It is anticipated that this will be a premium service offering. 

In addition, AHIP has plans to expand its International operations. AHIP is already working with several clients overseas to license their courses to professionals outside the insurance industry such as IT consultants that need a level of insurance specific knowledge to enable them to perform their jobs. The goal is to reach out to a greater number of organizations, in different countries, that could not have been a viable resource before the implementation of TopClass LMS.

These additional offerings will improve AHIP’s ability to increase enrollments from their education services, while containing operational costs, and would not have been possible without using TopClass LMS to power the offering.

America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) is the national association whose members provide coverage and health‐related services that improve and protect the health and financial security of consumers, families, businesses, communities and the nation. AHIP is a national association that represents 1,300 health insurance plans and provides coverage to more than 200 million Americans. Tens of thousands of industry professionals rely on AHIP to provide first-class advocacy, education, and information on the United States' changing health care system.