Premier Service Medical Aid Society rebrands
ONE of Zimbabwe’s biggest healthcare providers, Premier Service Medical Aid Society (PSMAS), has rebranded, morphing into a modern entity that conforms and suits the new way of doing business. PSMAS managing director Nixjoen Mapesa explains the move in an interview. Who is PSMAS?
PSMAS is Zimbabwe’s largest private medical aid society with a market share of approximately 70% of the medically insured market. What is now known as Premier Service Medical Aid Society, was founded as the Public Service Medical Aid Society in 1930 during the Great Depression when the Public Service Association came together and decided to create a fund by subscribing into a common pool, from which they would pay for their medical bills of their members and dependants. Back in those days, the then government would put in their contribution towards the healthcare funding requirements for the civil servants of the day. When it became unsustainable for the government to take care of the healthcare bills for their employees through financing of this fund, the civil servants themselves resolved to supplement their own health benefits and started making monthly contributions towards the fund. The fund today covers over 950 000 members and has a presence in every province and online. We continue the journey that was begun over 90 years ago and look forward to taking it for another 90 years and beyond.
Why rebrand at this time?
Our key motivation for the changes was the need to address our stakeholders’ pain areas and to be responsive to the changing business environment and emerging global trends. We have been a part of the national healthcare fabric since 1930 and we have evolved like all responsive and alert institutions should. Key among these identified pain areas were the following:
Card rejection, which has been a major issue for our members as the environment changed around us. Failure to access healthcare and medication. Increased out of pocket expenditure, particularly in a time of depressed incomes and high costs.
With this in mind, we made a decision to transform the organisation from the inside out.
Our key focus areas were to:
Ensure that our service offering meets best practice and is competitive on local, regional and global markets
Build resilience to evolving risk landscape and emergence of new types of risks, for example pandemics. COVID-19 stands as a powerful example of a risk that caught the whole world napping.
Boost processing efficiency and enable real time payment and processing through automation
Meet and surpass the increased demand for more personalised services and digitalisation
What processes did you go through during the rebranding exercise?
We went for deep introspection and organisational transformation. Our approach was guided by:
The entrenchment of a high performance and service-oriented culture through personal rebranding. We therefore embarked on an internal transformation journey aimed at entrenching and high performance and serviceoriented culture.
The enhancement of service delivery to members which we believe will have a domino effect on addressing member pain points. On this we were guided by several independently-run surveys in which members clearly told us their areas of frustration.
An internal transformation focused on staff competencies, systems optimisation and business process re-engineering. Through this we embarked on staff retraining and assessment on product knowledge, Information and communications technology (ICT) competencies, customer service, grooming and etiquette.
Standardisation of operational processes and procedures which included digitalisation of key processes to enhance member service that is website, mobileapp and contact centre.
Optimisation of existing ICT systems as well as adoption of electronic claims submission with a view of shortening turnaround times
Product reviews and service provider engagements aimed at enhancing access
And, finally, a change of external image and branding to embody the internal transformation. The new image is our commitment to change. The new brand identity we launch here today is the culmination of all these processes and it speaks to our history and our future.
What difference are we expecting with this rebranding exercise?
The work that has gone on behind the scenes, long before the revelation of the logo gives us confidence that this rebrand will show a new level of service delivery. However, it is a journey, as I have clearly stated, as we have done all long, we continue to invite our stakeholders to give us their input and feedback into how we can give them a better experience.
In closing, what can the market expect now that PSMAS has rebranded?
Well, I do not want to say much for the proof of the pudding is in the eating. We want to hear from our stakeholders in the next two months what their experiences will be with us. As highlighted during our launch, we view this as a transformation journey and we, therefore, are not yet where we want to be, but with the feedback and support of our stakeholders, we are confident that we will be the medical aid insurance of choice for all economic and social sectors of this economy.