A friend of mine is the CEO of a structural engineering company that specializes in maintenance, construction, modifications, inspections, and emergency services within the broadcast industry. Pretty mundane stuff, right? Far from it.
What I failed to mention is that the company’s niche is working on the highest communications towers in the country ― towers that rise as high as 2,000 feet in the air.
After watching a video of one of the company’s teams installing new hardware with the help of a helicopter, I imagined they must be risk-taking thrill-seekers. But I was assured it’s actually quite the opposite. In reality, crew members are very disciplined and risk averse. They are singularly focused on safely carrying out the job at-hand.
This made me think about our own business. Like my friend’s enterprise, our work takes place within a fairly common field ― structural engineering for them and employee benefits consulting for us. What distinguishes us both is not so much what we do, but the challenging environment where we choose to do it.
And in our case, that’s tackling the highest cost claims in employer-sponsored health plans. While most consultants are content pitching large-scale, low-impact programs, we’re targeting the claims that drive plan costs and trends.
So why focus there? Because when you segment claims data, cost trends associated with the bottom 95% are usually much lower than the trends associated with the top 5%. With specialty drug trends and emerging cell and gene therapies, it only takes one or two claims to “break the bank” for many plans.
Just as working thousands of feet above the ground isn’t for everyone, many employers and their consultants aren’t comfortable getting involved with high-cost (and sometimes high-profile) claims. But like the tower crews, our team is so well-versed working in such an environment that what others might perceive as scary or overly complex, is just another day at the office for us.
The consistent result for our clients? Improved care and lower cost with minimal employee disruption. Because sometimes, you have to be willing to take on the hard jobs if you want to make an impact.
Precision Communications is a premier tower service provider that supports mission critical infrastructure within the broadcast industry. Founded in 1993, the company has built a strong reputation working with many of the nation’s largest broadcast organizations. A full-service provider specializing in tower maintenance, construction, modifications, inspections, and emergency services, Precision is headquartered in Grove, OK, and supports clients nationwide.