2013 40 Under 40: Jim Millaway
Southwest Region Reprints
Benefits consultant
The Holmes Organisation Inc.
Age: 35
As a benefits consultant at The Holmes Organisation Inc. in Tulsa, Okla., Jim Millaway thinks his role is to provide advice and education, not sell insurance. Some clients already have brokers but look to Mr. Millaway to help analyze return on investment and effectiveness of their benefits programs.
“The last thing I want people to think of me is as an insurance salesman,” Mr. Millaway said. “I'm passionate about wellness in a different way than most people. I prefer to have direct involvement with the primary care doctors who are treating these employees.”
In most cases, he arranges for primary care physicians that serve employees in the groups he oversees to be paid a monthly capitated fee. “Our objective is to have no PCPs paid fee-for-service anymore,” he said.
Mr. Millaway also follows the Triple Aim framework, a process developed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement to optimize health system performance. Programs he recommends to clients must meet the three criteria outlined in Triple Aim: improving the patient or employee experience, improving the health of employees and lowering overall health care costs.
QuikTrip Corp., a Tulsa, Okla.-based convenience store chain with 14,000 employees, has used Mr. Millaway's innovative ideas for the past five years with great success, said Brice Habeck, the company's benefits manager.
“People in the past were just focused on cutting costs. He focuses on getting employees healthy,” Mr. Habeck said.
QuikTrip, which is both self-funded and self-administered, also has adopted Mr. Millaway's direct-contracting approach.
“Since we process our own claims, we ask for a price sheet, and Jim helps us evaluate the costs. He also does a good job of finding the best Centers for Excellence and determining whether they would be a good candidate for direct contracting,” Mr. Habeck said.
