- George Macrelli, Senior Director, Security Assurance, at HMS
With over 100 employees in the state of Florida, including more than 150 more working from regional offices in Atlanta GA, Montgomery AL, and Raleigh NC, healthcare cost containment specialist HMS, like so many other companies, was faced with a nightmare situation as Hurricane Irma threatened widespread destruction, including loss of power and cell phone usage.
However, unlike many of those other companies, HMS had prepared for this moment.
HMS had the program, and technology in place.
It had most of its employees linked to its emergency response platform, via their smartphones.
It had put its teams through simulations replicating situations such as a hurricane.
Ahead of the monster storm landing in Florida, HMS set up an Emergency Response Virtual Command Center in its Irving, Texas, headquarters.
Its goal was to provide support and resources for those employees impacted by this storm, whether they were evacuated or were riding out the storm in their own homes.
The way that HMS kept in touch with its people before, during and after the storm was through our crisis management platform, In Case of Crisis.
HMS first adopted the In Case of Crisis platform for its emergency communications more than two years ago, replacing a well-known mass notification tool that HMS considered administratively too cumbersome.
George Macrelli, Senior Director of Security Assurance at HMS, explained what happened during Irma:
"As Irma developed, we began preparing, and reaching out to those employees in the defined impact cone, even as the hurricane was days away from making landfall.”
HMS is a leading provider of cost containment solutions in the U.S. healthcare marketplace. Using innovative technology as well as extensive data services and powerful analytics, the Company delivers coordination of benefits, payment integrity, and health management and member engagement solutions to help customers recover improper payments; prevent future improper payments; reduce fraud, waste and abuse; effectively engage their members and better manage the care they receive; and ensure regulatory compliance. The Company serves commercial health plans, state government agencies, federal programs, at-risk providers, pharmacy benefit managers and employers.
