Flume’s start-up client had a bold vision: to create a “package” of vetted digital point solutions that could be easily accessed by employer clients through a Third-Party Administrator (TPA). They wanted to include innovative solutions like Hinge, Walrus, and Rejuvenate, along with trusted networks and a transparent PBM.
To bring such a product to market, 11 new vendors would need to be integrated to trade with their database. This would need to be done in only a few months if the client wanted to bring on lives for 1/1.
The Challenge: Integrating Point Solutions At Scale
Establishing trading relationships with multiple vendors is an incredibly labor-intensive process, and one that’s almost impossible for a start-up with limited resources. The task requires not just technical know-how, but also significant time and financial investment to custom build each individual trading relationship. Most start-ups do not have the labor capital nor time required to successfully build viable marketplaces of this scale.
To overcome this massive barrier to entry, the client chose Flume as their end-to-end outsourced integration and data management partner.
Flume’s Solution: High-Tech Integration and Management Services
Flume’s task was two fold: stand up the connections between 11 specific vendors, and create a front-door connector that would be easy for the client’s TPA partner to trade claims and eligibility.
In order to do this, Flume employed a step-by-step process involving world-class technology, elegant methodology, and dedicated people:
- Flume’s Product Analysts sat down with the client’s data team to understand how their database is formatted, and how they like to receive incoming files. We mapped out all the validations necessary to get the service providers’ data into their database, and then onward to the TPA.
- Our Product Analysts engaged each of the 11 vendors directly (via phone and email) to receive their Spec and Sample files.
- Our Software Engineer mapped and transformed the info received in those spec files to align with the data model of the client’s database. Our system is built on a Canonical Model that allows SQL and Python to transform data, as opposed to traditional 1:1 mapping by hand, so this process takes only minutes of human time, rather than hours or days.
- Our Product Analysts quality tested the trades. Without taking hold of any data, Flume was the interface layer through which claims, eligibility, etc. flowed from Point Solution to the client—and back again—with no interruptions.
Overall, this job took Flume only 2.5 weeks. Today, Flume is comfortably installed as a key component of the client’s data flow architecture. We will maintain all of those trading relationships with the point solutions on an ongoing basis, so the client doesn’t have to dedicate manpower to them. Their FTE’s can focus on sales, growth, and product development.
When new TPAs are ready to integrate with the client, it’s as simple as submitting a ticket request via Flume’s secure portal, and their Account Manager will kick off the new work. Our team gets to work gathering the Spec file and mapping it to the database. It can happen in a matter of hours rather than weeks or months.
Key Metrics & Results
- Time to Market: Flume's data integration services enabled the client to go from a vision on paper to a viable in-market product offering within 4 months of engaging Flume.
- Vendor Connections: Flume established 11 connections including QA testing and ongoing maintenance.
- Client Acquisition: The client secured their first group for a 7/1 start date—6 months ahead of schedule!
Flume’s innovative approach not only saved this start-up health program time and money, but provided an ongoing advantage that competitor plans just can’t match. Time and speed of integration is no longer a barrier to bringing on new point solutions OR new TPA partners.
To learn how Flume can enable your start-up to quickly onboard new point solutions and TPA partners, contact us today!
