20 Jan RFP released for MHC Medical Spending Account Administration

Clarification on MHC’s decision to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) for Medical Spending Account (MSA) administration.

MHC was just months into a new 4-year, best-in-market contract with Further, our current MSA administrator, when we were notified Further had entered into agreement to sell their business to Health Equity. MHC was notified in early December 2021 that the sale of the VEBA assets to Health Equity fell apart. This was after the acquisition of the rest of the Further business was finalized in November. Our spending account business strategy is best served when all the accounts we offer are administered by the same partner for the ease of both partner groups and their employees. As a result of the split of the business, MHC has issued an RFP for full MSA administration including VEBA, HSA, HRA, medical FSA and dependent care FSA. We will be evaluating MSA administrators with the intention of migrating our total MSA business on or before the 10/1/22 timeline presented by Further & Health Equity.

As part of our evaluation process, we will be looking for the following criteria, as well as other criteria when we make our decision:
• Best-in-class customer service
• Best-in-class administration fees
• Best-in-class rates of return
• References from similar organizations
• A thorough implementation plan that limits disruption
• A robust account management team with a strong presence in the region

MHC has assembled a team of experienced medical spending account and legal experts for this project. We assure you that our plan is to use our group purchasing power to command the same contracted benefits and provisions as we have in place today with Further. Please know when working on this RFP we have you and your employees’ best interests in the forefront as we evaluate our potential new partners.

As of today, there is no work required from you and you can keep your operation status quo until we communicate our decision and next steps. We plan to decide on the new administrator in mid-March and shortly thereafter share with you the detailed migration plan.

We will send additional information as this process moves forward. As always, we appreciate and value your continued partnership. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to me directly or contact your Regional Service Cooperative.

Thank you for your valued participation in the medical spending account program through the Minnesota Healthcare Consortium.

In health,
Marlo Peterson
Minnesota Healthcare Consortium
Consumer Directed Healthcare Consultant
mpeterson@mnhc.gov | (952) 393-2796