ebilling and epayment for Self-Funded Groups This document walks you through the basics of registering for, and using, ebilling and epayment Services. Topics covered are: Setting up Roles in BlueConnection Tools Accessing ebilling and epayment Services Setting up email preferences Using page specific help Viewing existing billings and reports Making payments Setting up automatic payments Setting up recurring payments Viewing payment activity Setting Up Roles in Blue Connection Tools Note: Before you can set up roles, you must be registered for BlueConnection Tools. There is a separate guide to walk you through registration. Your designated security coordinator (DSC) will need to assign a role to permit selected staff members to access Wellmark s ebilling and epayment Services. The Process Once you have access to Blue Connection Tools, your DSC will go to www.wellmark.com and enter his/her UserID and Password to log in.
From the Blue Connection Tools link in the right navigation, your DSC will click Create and Maintain User Profiles. The Group User Maintenance window opens. All registered users display. Initially, this will only be the main DSC until additional users, including any other DSCs, are set up. Adding a New User To add a new user, the DSC clicks on Add a User in the upper left list of links.
When the Add/Modify a Group User page opens, the DSC: Fills in the applicable fields Adds the appropriate roles Clicks Submit when completed A temporary password will display. The DSC will print the password, and then click Continue.
The Manage Groups Access(es) window opens. The DSC assigns the user to all group billing units, or specific group billing units, and clicks Submit when finished. The user that the DSC added displays on the Group User Maintenance window now. Modifying a User Clicking the + in a user s Roles column expands the display to show all roles for that user.
To give the user access to the ebilling tools, an ebilling role must be selected. To set the individual level of access for a user, the DSC clicks on modify in the Group Access column for that user. The Manage Group Access(es) window opens. The DSC selects information for all Group Billing Numbers under the group, or access to specific billing units. After setting access, the DSC clicks Submit to save and submit the selection and complete the registration in one action.
To add or remove roles for a user, the DSC clicks on that user s name. The DSC highlights the available role to add, and clicks Add to move the role to the assigned roles column. To remove a role, the DSC does the reverse: highlights the role to remove in the assigned roles column, and clicks Remove to move it back to the available roles column.
To delete a user, the DSC clicks Delete. Note: All Changes made in the Create and Maintain Users Profiles update overnight. Users created one day will be able to access ebilling the following day.
Accessing ebilling and epayment Services To access ebilling and epayment Services, go to www.wellmark.com and log into the BlueConnection tools using your User ID and Password. The Employer BlueConnection page appears. Select the ebilling and epayment link. You may briefly see a redirect page.
The ebilling and epayment Services window opens. Setting Up Email Preferences ebilling and epayment Services allow you to set your preferences for email notifications. To start, on the ebilling and epayment Services home page, click the Edit E mail Notifications link in the left navigation. On the Edit Email Notification Preferences page, there are three required email notifications, and three that you can choose to turn on or off. If you want to accept the default settings, just click any other link in the left navigation. If you want to make and keep changes, click OK. If you make changes and do not want to keep them, click Cancel.
When you click OK, you will see a message that your preferences have been successfully changed. Using Page Specific Help Two types of page specific help are available: The More about link appears on every page of ebilling and epayment Services. Page specific FAQs appear on select pages More about Every page in ebilling and epayments Services has a More about link in the upper right corner that opens a window with helpful information. Select pages also have an FAQ right on the page. Click on a question, and the answer will appear.
Viewing Existing Billings The most current month of bills is displayed on the Billing Statements page. Note: Users with a View Only role will not see the Make a Payment link in the left navigation, or the Select to Pay column in the statements list. To view statements and reports for previous months, click Prior Billing Statements in the left navigation. Clicking View for a particular statement opens a window with a detail reports list for that statement. Clicking View All Reports opens a window with a list of all detail reports for the current month.
When you click the View link for a specific statement, the Billing Reports window, with report links for that statement opens. Click on the link for a report to view that report. When you click the View All Reports link on the Billing Statements page, the Billing Reports page for all of the reports for a specific month opens. Click on the link for a report to view that report. Making Payments This section walks you through: Setting up a bank account for making payments Making payments Changing payments Cancelling payments Setting up a Bank Account for Making Payments Users with a view and pay role can set up bank accounts to be used for making payments. Bank accounts set up through the Set Up Bank Accounts page automatically save for future use by your group.
To begin, click the Set Up Bank Accounts link in the left navigation. The Bank Account page opens. This window displays any bank accounts previously set up through ebilling and epayment Services. View only users will be able to see this information, but will not have the Add a New Bank Account and Change and Delete links. To set up a new account, click the Add a New Bank Account link. The Add a New Bank Account page opens.
You may choose your account type. The Account Type box defaults to Checking. Use the drop down arrow to change to Savings. Enter a description of the account in the Description box. This description should be something that helps you identify this account from your other accounts. Example: Primary Accounts Payable.
Enter your Routing Transit Number and Account Number. The graphic at the bottom of the page and the page FAQ help you locate your routing transit and account numbers. When you have entered all the information, click Continue. The Confirm New Bank Account page opens. Re enter your Routing Transit Number and Account Number to confirm, and click Continue.
You will see a confirmation that you have successfully added a bank account. To change or delete a bank account, use the links for that account. Note: The change and delete links are only visible to a user with a view and pay role. Deleting an Account If you click the Delete link for a specific bank account, the Delete a Bank Account page for that account opens. You have the option to: Continue, and delete the account Cancel, and return to the Banks Accounts page without deleting the account
Changing a Bank Account If you click the Change link for a specific bank account, the Change a Bank Account page for that account opens. This page only allows you to change the description of an account. To change the bank account type, routing transit number, or bank account number, add a new bank account and delete this one. Making a Payment The simplest way to pay a bill is to check the box in the Select to Pay column for that billing statement, and click Pay. You can also click on the Make a Payment link in the left navigation. Note: only users with a View and Pay role will see these choices.
The Make a Payment page opens. If you clicked: The payment box on the Billing Statements page, the payment amount and due date are autopopulated on the Make a Payment page the left navigation Make a Payment link, the current date is auto populated, and you have to enter the amount Either way, you can change the payment date, amount, account from which the payments is made, or choose to pay from multiple bank accounts. When you are done, click Continue. The Confirm Payment page opens. From here you can click: Pay to confirm the payment Change to adjust the bank account or payment date Cancel to cancel the payment
When you click Pay, you receive a payment confirmation. You have the option to print the payment confirmation, or return to the payment page. Setting Up Automatic Payments Depending on your billing arrangement (monthly, weekly draw, or actual weekly claims), you can set the system up to pay statements automatically. For groups who pay their actual claims on a weekly basis, automatic payments will be generated for the weekly claim billings only. The monthly settlement billing statement must be paid using one of the previously discussed payment methods. For weekly draw or monthly groups, the monthly billing statement will be paid automatically. To start, click on the Set Up Automatic Payments link in the left navigation.
The Automatic Payments page opens. If previous automatic payments have been set up, they display here. Click the Set Up Automatic Payments link. Note: Only users with the Pay and View role can set up Automatic Payments. The Set Up Automatic Payments page opens. Note: If you need to set up a new bank account, there is a link provided to the Set Up a Bank Account page. You can set the payment amount to always pay the amount due, or to pay up to a maximum amount. If the billing statement exceeds the maximum payment set, no payment will be scheduled and you will receive an automated e mail notification. When you are finished, click Continue. You will see a confirmation that you have successfully set up automatic payments. These payments will begin on the next (and any future) statement received. If there are existing statements online that have not been paid, you must pay those separately.
A user with a View and Pay role can use the change or cancel links to make changes to automatic payments. A user with a View Only role will not see these links. Change Automatic Payment If you click the Change link, the Change Automatic Payments page opens. Here you have the same options you had when you originally set up the automatic payments. Any changes you make will apply to future statements posted to ebilling and epayment Services. Cancel Automatic Payment If you click the Cancel link, the Cancel Automatic Payments page opens. You have option to cancel or keep the automatic payments.
Setting Up Recurring Payments For groups on a weekly draw payment arrangement only, you have the option to set up recurring weekly payments (Friday payment dates) so your required payment is automatically sent to Wellmark each week. To start, click the Set Up Recurring Payments link in the left navigation. The Recurring Payments window opens. If any recurring payments were already set up for this account, they would appear on this page. To set up a recurring payment, click the Set Up Recurring Payments link. Note: Only users with the Pay and View role can set up recurring payments. The Set Up Recurring Payments page opens. You can choose to make recurring payments from any bank account you have set up in ebilling and epayment Services.
The payment amount should be the amount required as shown in Exhibit A of your agreement with Wellmark. Set the date (it must be a Friday) on which the first payment will be sent. Set the last payment for a specific date (must be a Friday, and should be at the end of your contract period). When you are finished, click Continue. The Recurring Payments page opens, with the recurring payment you just set up displayed. To cancel or change this recurring payment arrangement, click Change or Cancel.
If you click Change, the Change a Recurring Payment page opens. Here you can change any recurring payment settings. Changes will start on the next future Friday payment. When you are finished, click Continue. The Recurring Payments page will open, with your changes. If you click Cancel, the Cancel Recurring Payments page opens. You can choose to cancel, or keep your recurring payment arrangement.
Viewing Payment Activity You can view a listing of all payments made online by your group. Note: This only shows online payments. Any payments sent to Wellmark (i.e. by check or direct wire) will not be displayed, but are properly reflected in your billing statement. To start, click the View Payment Activity link in the left navigation. The Payment Activity page opens. Note: Only users with a Pay and View role see the Change and Cancel links. Those links will allow you to edit payments in a Scheduled status only. Payments in any other status cannot be changed or cancelled. All of your online payments are listed. You can click the column headings to resort the data. A red arrow indicates which column is currently being used to sort the data.
You can also perform a search for payments made in a specific time period. Register Today If you are not registered for BlueConnection Tools, register today on www.wellmark.com. If you are registered, have your designated security coordinator (DSC) assign an online billing and payment role to selected staff today! Note: If your group also has Flexible Benefits administered by Wellmark, you can also utilize ebilling and epayment Services for your administrative billing statements as well as Flexible Benefits Funding Reports, with very similar features as your health billing statements. Have your DSC follow the registration process to sign up the appropriate Flex roles and login to ebilling and epayment Services to begin viewing and paying online. Please note that the ebilling Flex PHI role will need to be assigned to view the details of the Flexible Benefits Funding report.