Op Ed: "EHIM: 25 Years Ahead of its Time" By Jeffrey Lewis

SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Feb. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In February 2012, Employee Health Insurance Management of Southfield, Michigan, better known as EHIM will celebrate its 25th anniversary.  For any corporation in this economic climate such success is revered; but for a woman-owned company this is a wonderful tribute to determination, dedication, and a vision for what health care should be or could be as opposed to accepting the status quo. 

EHIM is not just any company.  It was founded by its lifetime President and CEO Mindi Fynke.  Built out of a vision and passion that health care needed to focus on the patient while helping the employer protect, control and, where possible, reduce the bottom line, Mindi was a health care visionary long before the nexus between health care cost containment and patient care was truly operational and the term became popular.

While Congress had spent (and continues too) years looking for creative strategies to increase access while currently controlling costs, EHIM was slowly and consistently making its mark in history. What started as a kernel of an idea grew from the front room of her one bedroom apartment, to now a company with more than 100 employees. The pillars of her vision have never crumbled; the strength of the determination has never wavered and her commitment to solving complex problems has shifted the health care paradigm.

Twenty-five years of solving health care problems is exhausting.  You wake up every morning asking yourself the same question: how can I help my clients achieve greater savings while not shredding access of affordable care?  In the 1980's EHIM became a licensed TPA and provided its clients with a new option – reimbursement programs - a twenty-year precursor to Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRA).  HRAs are another type of savings account for medical expenses.  They allow both employees as well as their employers to save money on healthcare-related expenses by allowing employers to set aside funds for employees to pay for medical expenses each year; this allows employers to return the paid expenses of employees, resulting in tax savings.  Mindi already had twenty years of reimbursement programs under her belt when HRAs finally became popular in 2002 when the IRS allowed employers to adopt new health care plans with a greater number of patient-directed features.

By 1989, Mindi saw additional opportunities to provide improved patient care and cost savings in prescription benefits and became a licensed PBM.  Underscoring the value proposition that EHIM offered has been its commitment to helping every employer maximize the value of every dollar spent.  Unlike other PBMs that accept rebates from pharmaceutical manufacturers, EHIM cornered the market early on refusing to accept rebates or sell its patient data.  The reason: to help the employer achieve the lowest net cost maximizing generic drugs as well as Over the Counter (OTC) medications.  By refusing to promote brand name medications in order to inure incentivized rebates from pharmaceutical manufacturers, the Fynke plan was to demonstrate a different value proposition.  Today, with a 95% retention rate of customers, EHIM has saved clients tens of millions of dollars by helping redesign, rebuild and revalue what an employer provided prescription drug plan can and should be.  That, sprinkled with an aggressive use at OTC medications where the employee may pay nothing, is the EHIM value proposition that has worked.

And, while growing a for-profit corporation is critically important, the Mindi Plan also included a lot of giving back.  Having helped the Jewish (Project Chessed) and Chaldean (Project Bismutha) Communities create prescription drug solutions that have enabled thousands of people to access affordable medications, the savings to hospitals, long term care facilities and taxpayers has been enormous.

The 25th anniversary of EHIM underscores how a company with real leadership and a vision for a better Michigan and nation can survive and grow.  A health care visionary must look deep in the soul of the lion every day to continue to create solutions to some of the most complex and vexing health care problems facing public and private sector employers every day.  They start with the bones of a thought and create from there.  That is the definition of Mindi Fynke. 

She has taken transformative to a new level. Her legacy and that of EHIM demonstrate the art of the possible.  And, the next 25 years will breed a new power of determination, creativity and strength for all businesses, but women-owned businesses in particular.

About Jeffrey Lewis & EHIM

Before joining EHIM as Chief Operating Officer, Jeffrey Lewis served as the President of PS2 Health Care and the Heinz Family Philanthropies.

EHIM is an innovative solution to containing costs in healthcare. Operating as a third party administrator, pharmacy benefit manager and consultant, EHIM is true to what the name stands for: custom-designed programs tailored to the education and overall Employee Health Insurance Management. Founded in 1987, EHIM is a certified WBENC woman-owned business servicing members throughout the country. For more information, visit www.ehimrx.com or call 248.948.9900

SOURCE EHIM