With Bonitas days away from one of the largest administrator transitions in South African medical scheme history, Momentum Health has set out what members, brokers, and employers can expect from day one – and the safeguards it says are in place if volumes spike or systems come under pressure.
At a stakeholder update on 21 May, Niyaaz Ebrahim (pictured), the executive head for Bonitas’s business unit at Momentum Health, focused less on strategy and more on execution: what changes operationally from 1 June, how the administrator has prepared for the go-live, and where it expects stakeholders to begin seeing the benefits of the new operating model from day one.
Momentum Health takes over the administration of Bonitas from 1 June, while managed-care services will move to Private Health Administrators (PHA), ending Bonitas’s 44-year administration relationship with Medscheme.
While Bonitas principal officer Lee Callakoppen used his address to explain why the scheme decided to change service providers, Ebrahim’s presentation focused on how the transition will work in practice.
Read: Bonitas: administrator change is part of a wider repositioning
One administrator, one process, one version of the truth
The central theme of Ebrahim’s presentation was simplification.
He repeatedly returned to the idea that members, employers, and brokers should experience fewer handovers, clearer accountability, and less fragmentation once the new operating model is implemented.
According to Ebrahim, one of the first areas targeted was contribution management.
Historically, some Bonitas options were administered through different operating environments, which meant employer contribution collection, reconciliation, and associated downstream processes could become more complex.
Momentum Health said it has consolidated those functions into a single environment.
“We have now consolidated contribution collection into one environment, one reconciliation process,” Ebrahim said.
He argued that the change would improve efficiency for employer groups from the first day of implementation.
The same principle has been extended to member administration.
Ebrahim said Momentum Health and its partners had agreed to move to a single entry point for member record management, creating what he described as a “single version of the truth” for member administration processes.
For brokers, the biggest operational change may be in commission administration.
Ebrahim said contribution reconciliation and broker payment processes have also been consolidated.
“The fact that the contribution process was housed in two environments previously meant that the broker payment and the broader broker commission process were also housed in two spaces,” he said.
“We’ve now consolidated that, so in the future you will have one payment, one reconciliation, and one statement.”
Momentum Health also plans to introduce redesigned contribution statements from June, which Ebrahim said are intended to improve both layout and communication with stakeholders.
The consolidation extends further.
Ebrahim said Bonitas will move to a single bank account structure and streamlined contact channels, while a broker portal will provide direct integration into the member enrolment environment.
What readiness looks like in practice
While Ebrahim acknowledged that readiness claims are easy to make, he spent a significant portion of the presentation outlining the operational work Momentum Health says has already been completed.
Momentum Health said more than 600 people will support the Bonitas administration function, with infrastructure being established at Rivonia Road and operations initially spread across three buildings before consolidation into a single environment from July.
Ebrahim said more than 80% of critical recruitment had been completed ahead of the go-live.
He also announced plans to introduce dedicated Bonitas walk-in centres.
Eight centres are expected to open from 1 June, followed by another nine from 1 July, creating 17 dedicated Bonitas service centres. Momentum offices across the country will also provide walk-in capability during the rollout period.
Technology readiness featured prominently.
Ebrahim acknowledged concerns around integration with hospital groups and third-party service providers but said Momentum Health had already progressed connectivity across a large portion of the provider ecosystem.
He said testing would continue through the final week before implementation and noted that some capabilities would become operational before 1 June.
“In addition to that, just for the sake of completeness in the picture, we also want to make sure that we’ve got the business-to-business capability with the hospital groups from day one in place.”
Momentum Health said it is targeting payment of 95% of claims within 10 days, with the balance processed within prescribed timelines and performance subject to oversight through service-level arrangements with Bonitas.
Ebrahim also said the administrator aims to turn around member applications and changes within five days.
What changes for brokers and members from 1 June
Ebrahim’s presentation suggested that many of the most visible changes for stakeholders will happen through digital channels.
He said the Bonitas call-centre number will remain unchanged, with members, brokers, and providers being routed through a redesigned interactive voice response system.
Momentum Health also intends to retain the bonitas.co.za domain and existing WhatsApp channels to minimise disruption.
Some changes will require action from users.
Momentum Health said members will be asked to re-download the mobile application and register on the new Member Zone from 1 June as part of the move to a consolidated digital environment and to ensure stakeholder information remains current.
A new broker zone will also launch on 1 June.
According to Ebrahim, brokers will be able to capture applications, track application progress, make amendments, log and monitor enquiries, and access commission statements through a single platform.
He acknowledged that visibility over application status had previously been a point of frustration and said the new environment was intended to address that experience.
Momentum Health also confirmed that the existing Business Hub platform will be decommissioned on 26 May as functionality migrates into the new digital environment.
What happens between now and go-live
Ebrahim also outlined how the final handover period will work.
Medscheme will remain responsible for issuing tax certificates and concluding May commission payments, while the final claims run is scheduled for 26 May, ahead of claims switching across from 27 May.
Momentum Health said it will receive the relevant data during the transition period to support benefit loading and operational readiness ahead of implementation.
Historic queries will remain with Medscheme for resolution, although Momentum Health said it intends, where possible and where information is available, to resolve new queries directly – even if they relate to services delivered before 31 May.
“There will be continuity of service despite the transition of service on the first of June.”
Ebrahim said teams would work through the final weekend before go-live, with IT activity beginning earlier to test scalability and ensure staff are fully operational before launch.
Momentum Health has also built contingency capacity into its operating model.
“We obviously don’t know what we don’t know what’s going to happen on the first of June,” Ebrahim said.
He said the administrator had established an off-site call centre as a fallback mechanism and could draw on Momentum Health’s broader staff complement of about 3 000 employees if volumes exceeded expectations.
“We’ve already made plans that if we need to tap into it, we definitely will do that.”
For now, however, Ebrahim said Momentum Health believes it has put the infrastructure, staffing, governance processes, and systems in place to support the Bonitas administration account from go-live.
“We are of the view that we are functionally ready to be able to service the Bonitas account.”
