Third party administrators (TPAs) have served an essential role in today’s employee benefits landscape. As outsourcing partners to benefit plan sponsors, their services range from health, dental and disability claims processing to health and welfare fund administration, pension and annuity administration, payroll auditing, medical stop loss, and related compliance and communications. Employers, Taft-Hartley plans and associations that do not have the internal expertise to manage these complex services turn to a TPA for the knowledge, skills and experience of their employee benefits administration specialists.
This is just one of the factors that is driving the growth of the TPA industry which has been valued at $486.08 billion in 2024 with a projected growth to $677.57 billion by 2029 reflecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.87%. What other factors are driving growth in the TPA sector? The following is a breakdown of these factors.
Factors Driving TPA Industry Growth
- Economic uncertainty along with increasing global instability – TPAs have proven instrumental in helping their clients control their benefit costs, which is particularly important during periods of economic insecurity and inflation. By taking the burden of benefits administration off the shoulders of plan sponsors, these organizations can focus their attention on revenue-producing activities and cost-saving measures across their operations.
- The increase in self-insured plans – As more organizations turn to self-fund their insurance plans, the risks associated with the complexities involved have them turning to TPAs to ensure regulatory compliance and efficient claims processing. Under ERISA, self-insured plans are exempt from many state regulations which introduces additional regulatory challenges to manage. Along with this, TPAs can be helpful in negotiating lower health plan prices on behalf of their clients.
- Technology advancements – Many TPAs have invested in benefit administration technologies which provide increased automation efficiencies, data accuracy, streamlined reports and documentation, and printed member communications. Many plan sponsors do not have the same level of technology to support optimum benefits administration.
- Value-added services – The best TPAs extend their client solutions to include value-added services such as referrals to their medical care utilization management programs, telecare platforms and stop loss cost-containment partners. By vetting these market-responsive resources, plan sponsors can elevate their employee benefits portfolio, confident in knowing these services are also being handled by high quality organizations.
For employee benefit plan sponsors, TPA have increasingly become valued business partners. The growth of TPAs is expected to continue as these firms demonstrate their intrinsic value to the administration of employee benefits.
