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Background

The MEMP Group of Healthcare Consultants was a natural progression following on from the successful business model created in 2000 by Member Empowerment Healthcare Consultants (PTY) Ltd based in Port Elizabeth. The pace of the development and growth in the Group has largely been member driven however the practical and real value added by our philosophy dictated that we look for opportunities to reach and add value to more members across the country.

The Group Philosophy, Guiding Principles and Methodology employed in servicing our members (and developing our own people) were formulated in 2000, and although the servicing methodology has and may continue to develop with time, we have never compromised or had to change our philosophy and guiding principles. Today almost 7 years after implementation they still hold true and have proven to be invaluable in our Group’s success.

What started out as a dream to create a member driven healthcare consulting company, adding value to members and their employers as opposed to the historical employer only approach, has become a successful reality and we are pleased to share our philosophy and guiding principles with you.

To understand our company and what we aspire to deliver for our clients, you will need to understand the history of the healthcare industry and the events that have taken place that led to the birth of our unique and successful approach.

History

Up until the early 1990’s, medical aid consulting was limited primarily to a “broking” function. Medical aids had very few limits on benefits if any, they were all very similar in design and mechanics, were all traditional fee for service type schemes, and the only real difference was service and price. In fact because the schemes were so similar in almost every respect including service the only material difference was price.

Thus the need for a consultant at that time was also limited, to find and “broker” the best price for a client (company or individual). Because price or the premiums paid for membership of a scheme was a common risk shared by the company (who generally subsidised 50% of the cost) and the employee (the actual member of the scheme), the need for a broker was thus a common and equal need between company and member. Because the risk (only cost) was a common risk shared equally at the time between employer and employee, the relationship built with the client was generally a relationship between a management representative and the healthcare broker. Historically this generally meant a relationship with a “white” company representative (as they were usually in the position of authority) and to cater for this a “white” broker.

However since the early 1990’s the medical aid industry has changed dramatically, benefits generally have limits, schemes can and do make use of traditional options, new generation options, and capitation options. The design and mechanics of the various options have become much more complicated and thus more difficult to understand and to use correctly. The result is that the member is at much more risk then before as the choice of scheme and option, the limits on benefits, how to use the benefits (claims procedures, pre-authorisation etc) and basically his entire medical aid program has become much more complicated - and the member carries increased risk.

If a member (or his company) selects an unsuitable option for his needs and the benefits aren’t sufficient to last him the entire year, the member carries the risk and pays from his pocket, not his company. If a member has a complicated scheme and option and he doesn’t fully understand the procedures and rules of his scheme, he is likely to have claims rejected and he will have to settle the claim from his pocket - the member carries increased risk.

If an employer (and/or the members) selects a lower cost scheme to limit the monthly premium costs, and the benefits do not cover the needs of the members and they run out during the year, the member carries the costs thereafter and thus - the member carries the increased risk.

Since the early 1990’s it has become very clear that the medical aid issue has become an increased risk to members whilst the risk to a company has primarily remained that of cost.

In our opinion the member is the key factor to the entire medical aid program. A poor choice of scheme, not understanding the scheme and how best to use the benefits, and a general lack of understanding of medical aid issues will hurt the member’s pockets - not the company.

In our opinion the risk has shifted and increased significantly for the actual member of the medical aid, the employee, and as such the member has to be much more involved in the medical aid program then before. The role of a healthcare broking company is no longer limited to “broking” but more an ongoing empowerment relationship and hence we consider ourselves consultants and not brokers.

The mere fact members come from all walks of life, across different industries and business’, and are made up of different cultural groups means that to be effective and efficient in any empowerment objectives, the healthcare consultant has to be able to cater for all members in a manner that satisfies their unique needs, including communication and cultural understanding. To do this the consultant himself needs to be genuinely empowered with the skills and expertise, communication skills and cultural understanding of the clients needs, to be able to create the same empowerment opportunities for his members.

Welcome to the MEMP Group of Healthcare Consultants

- It’s about our members !

The MEMP Group of Healthcare Consultants is a formal “Association” of like minded, but independently owned and managed BEE healthcare consulting companies that aspire to a common Philosophy, Guiding Principles and Unique Servicing Methodology.

The successful business model created by Member Empowerment Healthcare Consultants (Pty) Ltd (hereinafter referred to as MEMP PE) has in effect been made available in theory and practice to carefully selected “Associates” across the country to be used for the benefit of members countrywide.

MEMP Head Office (MEMP H.O) could have opened offices across the country to achieve the same objective of reaching more of our people, however in terms of empowerment creation the shareholders and Directors of MEMP PE opted to go the route of contracting “Associates” so that the ownership and ultimately empowerment and value belonged to the “Associate” and not MEMP H.O. This also provides ownership of the members business by the various Associates as opposed to being employees and the members thus receive appropriate commitment and loyalty.

The “Association” agreements are legally binding on both parties and enforce a common set of rules, including servicing methodology and standards, and importantly the same empowerment philosophy and guiding principles. Audits are conducted by MEMP H.O each month to ensure compliance with ethical and performance standards, as well as provide ongoing training and assistance with technical and skills development.

Although each “Associate” is an independently owned and managed organisation, the association agreement binds the “Associate” to the MEMP Group, thus providing synergy across the different regions and the same high and consistent level of servicing to national companies with branches across the country.

It has happened (and probably will continue to happen) where an “Associate” in a different region starts out as a branch of MEMP PE whilst they are awaiting full accreditation and licensing of their on independent company, and thus MEMP PE subsidises their initial operation, however the objectives are to source already established healthcare consultants who are like-minded and who believe in our philosophy.

BEE is a firm commitment of our Group and indeed a criteria for acceptance as an “Associate”. There are two primary reasons for this requirement, firstly and most importantly because our servicing methodology requires our Group to be able to communicate with and understand our members in a manner determined by our member, generally his home language. Secondly in terms of our own philosophy and guiding principles, we want to create empowerment opportunities for people from all backgrounds including the previously disadvantaged.

The MEMP Group of Healthcare Consultants provides a uniform level and method of service and commitment to our members countrywide, whilst creating genuine and meaningful empowerment opportunities for like-minded and committed “Associates” who believe in our philosophy and guiding principles. An effective and rewarding win-win empowerment strategy that adds real value to our members and all the “Associates” within our Group.

Group Philosophy

The Group and its People are committed to a number of guiding principles.

1. To engage ALL stakeholders in a program of information sharing, more especially those that have been denied   information in the past
2. To create opportunities for these stakeholders to be empowered with healthcare knowledge and skills, in such a way that they take control and responsibility for their actions by making more informed decisions.
3. To create as far as possible an employee healthcare program that is satisfactory to the majority of the members concerned, by increasing individual awareness and involvement in a transparent manner, thus decreasing the opportunity for hidden agendas and potential conflicts of interest.
4. To maintain and support our member’s rights in terms of governing legislation.
5. To apply these guiding principles in all our dealings with members, service providers, colleagues and any person whom we may have the privilege of serving.

MEMP PE Profile

Member Empowerment Healthcare Consultants (Pty) Ltd, trading as MEMP PE is an independently and 100% locally owned company, forming part of a national group of companies being the MEMP Group of Healthcare Consultants. The company is fully accredited with the Council for Medical Schemes (acc number: ORG1565) as are all it’s consulting staff. The company is also an authorised Financial Services Provider (license number: 13833), registered with the Financial Services Board of South Africa. The company started in January 2000 as IFG Employee Benefits (Pty) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the IFG Group of Companies, a financial services group offering a broad spectrum of financial services to individuals and companies in South Africa. Initially with a staff of one, and no clients the venture began as an idea and now almost 7 years later has become a reality that provides healthcare consulting services to thousands of members across South Africa.

In June 2005, after serving out a six month notice period to the IFG Group, the current active partners and management of the company purchased the remaining 25% of the company equity held by the IFG Group and in the process became a wholly owned and managed independent company.

The company is a genuine Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) company, and currently 25.1 % of the shares are owned by people of colour, and in addition to this the staff and management demographics currently reveal that 85% of the company human resources are people of colour and from the previously disadvantaged community.

The shareholders in our company are actively involved in the business and subject to the same obligations and commitments as each employee. In turn each and every employee within our company has the opportunity for advancement within our organisation by becoming shareholders subject to achieving predetermined criteria. These criteria are not only based on performance, but also include individual development and training, product and industry accreditation, and most important of all a total commitment to the empowerment of our members and belief and adherence to our company philosophies.

Currently our team compliment comprises 1 “white” employee, in effect 85% people of colour and 57% female. Our commitment to creating effective empowerment opportunities for member’s, guides our employment strategy in that we recruit people whom we believe are best suited to address our members needs. This includes people who may initially lack technical knowledge and skills, but who show the necessary empathy and commitment necessary to serve others.

We firmly believe that knowledge and skills can be learnt, however it is the patience and understanding of our member’s needs that is a priority. We have in the past, and will continue into the future to offer employment opportunities to people based on the potential value they can add to our members, and their own desire to help themselves.

Our people are extremely important to us, but even more important to our members. Our philosophy of continually adding value to our members requires our people to be committed to improvement and the continual development of their own knowledge and skills. In addition to providing internal training and examinations based on industry specific course material, we encourage and assist financially with formal learning through recognised tertiary institutions where appropriate.

Accepting the responsibility to address our member’s needs is a commitment that we appreciate and respect, and as a result our people are remunerated accordingly. Rather then provide an inappropriate salary only based remuneration system only, our people share in the value of the business they manage. This system encourages a mutually beneficial relationship between consultant and member as the onus is on our people to continually deliver an improving level of service. The potential to become greedy and increase earnings by increasing membership is tempered with the need to continually provide a satisfactory level of service to our existing members, and this lesson is not lost on our people.

Throughout our business a significant theme will become obvious -

“It’s about our members”.

The reasons are twofold, firstly it is very clear in the Medical Schemes Act and Regulations that the principle concern of the governments Department of Health and the Council for Medical Schemes is the member. Secondly it is our firm belief that there are two distinct factors that have the most profound effects on the healthcare industry. The first is the funding mechanism, the actual medical aid itself, and the second is the member’s understanding of his or her medical aid. Unfortunately we are not yet extensively involved in the former, but we are certainly involved in the second. It is the members understanding of what, how and why the medical aid mechanism works as it does, that governs their attitude and utilisation of their medical aid. We firmly believe that a member, appropriately empowered with even the basic knowledge and skills about the medical aid industry and how medical aids operate, can add significant value to their own medical aid program and the healthcare industry as a whole.

For the reasons stated above, it is obvious that our strategy is to concentrate and focus our company on creating effective and meaningful empowerment opportunities for the benefit of the previously denied members of medical aid schemes. In addition to this we agree with the government intent to encourage as many people formally employed to become members of private medical schemes, so that state resources can be better utilised for the protection and care of the unemployed sector of our population. It stands to reason therefore that our services and consulting efforts are available to anyone currently on a private medical aid or anyone considering joining a private medical aid.

Information is vital to the success of our objectives. We acknowledge that no one person has all the knowledge or skills to be a perfect consultant, however as a team we believe that we do. Where one of our people or associates may be weak in a particular area, we have others who can and do provide support so that the service delivery to our members is uninterrupted and of the highest quality. If we don’t know the answer, we will go out and find it rather then mislead our members with an immediate incorrect response.

This ability to recognise our weaknesses is one of our strengths in that we actively go in search of a solution so that the weakness can be turned into strength. Empowerment is about real life learning, and the more we learn the more empowered we become, the more we can create the same opportunities for our members. Backed by modern information technology (IT), and a pool of knowledge and technical skills gained in formal training and development, our people have access to a comprehensive support system that allows them to be effective and efficient when serving our members.

Our company profile is built around the guiding principles mentioned above, and so long as we continue to focus on them in each of our functions, we will continue to provide a meaningful and value added service to our members, and each other, remembering always - It’s about our members.

MEMP Group Profile

The success of MEMP PE in adding value to our members, more especially those previously denied access to consulting and even basic medical aid information in the past has resulted in widespread and national demand for our unique services and methodology. True to our philosophy and desire to create empowerment opportunities for members and like minded people in our industry, we have embarked on what we believe to be a very unique and exciting expansion program that has created empowerment opportunities for both our members and our “Associates” across the country.

In effect we have entered into “Association” agreements with like-minded healthcare consultants around the country who have to satisfy various stringent selection criteria and who in our opinion believe in our philosophy and are in the business to genuinely add value to members. In addition to these partners believing in our philosophy they are required to adhere to our servicing standards, and adopt and implement our servicing methodology as is done here in PE. MEMP H.O provides access to all our intellectual capital, information, training material, and importantly our insight, experience and our name which we are not only proud of, but that is fast becoming a well known and trusted name in the healthcare consulting industry.

In the true spirit of creating empowerment opportunities MEMP H.O do not own one single share in any of the associates businesses, or have any control over the management or operation thereof, except were it applies to the servicing methodology and standards provided to members. We have a wealth of experience and have learnt many lessons by being there and having gone through the process, and wherever possible we impart this knowledge and the lessons learnt on our associates so that they have the benefit of in effect an accelerated learning curve and need not take the time we required, to get up to speed. The unique nature of our philosophy and methodology obviously takes time to learn, however the mistakes we made in the past can and should be avoided, specifically in terms of negotiations and interaction with the various role-players in the industry that if conducted incorrectly can significantly delay the process.

In addition to the obvious benefits of sharing successful strategies, having a national footprint creates further opportunities for the Group in that national companies are then serviceable because all branches can be serviced in a consistent and uniform manner. Obviously referrals become more common and synergies between the various offices can be used to our members and our Groups advantage.

Importantly the MEMP Group name has become more widely known and this in itself provides one of the best forms of strength available. Provided all the “Associates” continue to conform to our philosophies and maintain the servicing standards, each member countrywide and our “Associate”, will enjoy the benefits and advantages of being part of a successful and national Group of companies. As can already be seen our Group of Companies enjoy preferential arrangements and good solid relationships with a number of service providers that give all our members and “Associates” significant advantages over some of our competitors and members not part of our Group.

Currently we have “Associates” in East London, Durban and Johannesburg, and a “branch” in the process of becoming an “Associate” in Cape Town. They have introduced their company and detailed their current profile to you by now and we trust they have done so with the enthusiasm and pride that comes as a result of doing things right first time. Whichever “Associate” or “branch” of the MEMP Group of Healthcare Consultants you are dealing with directly, you can rest assured that you have a committed partner who will protect your best interests and whose first priority is you the member.

                       The MEMP Group of Healthcare Consultants

                          “It’s about our Members”