Argus Americas Regional Report

Dear Shareholders,

As the Chief Executive for Argus Americas, I have a clear vision for our strategic growth. As a 30-year healthcare and health insurance veteran, I have seen healthcare change and evolve.

For this year’s report I will focus on one of our primary missions at Argus, to create a better healthcare ecosystem. It goes without saying that our other lines of business, such as our Property & Casualty, Pensions, Life and Asset Management, all contribute to the safety net Argus creates for our clients. However, I will concentrate on how we are building a healthcare ecosystem that will deliver better health outcomes for all.

I am delighted by what we have achieved this year, not only in terms of our financial results, but also how we have successfully integrated the three new health businesses that we acquired over the last few years. The seamless integration of Island Health Services, Family Practice Group and One Team Health contributed additional fee income whilst providing key foundational building blocks for our integrated health care vision.

We have worked hard to enhance our customer value and customer experience that has translated into greater shareholder value, but there is more than meets the eye.

We have worked hard to enhance our customer value and customer experience that has translated into greater shareholder value.

Take a closer look at our Health Ecosystem

Argus’ journey to build a better health ecosystem started four years ago with the purchase of One Team Health (OTH), an organisation that connects our members to the best healthcare providers in the world who act with care, compassion, ease and empathy. We were delighted to grow our customer base and expand our service footprint to include Caribbean-based clients.

Healthcare costs continue to increase, however we at Argus are committed to deliver effective cost containment strategies for our clients and our members. Almost 40 percent of every healthcare dollar spent by Bermuda residents is on overseas care. Through our strategic provider networks, we were able to deliver savings of up to 50 percent on care provided by US-based healthcare providers. With our ability to better control spending overseas we started to redirect some of these savings into more meaningful disease prevention programmes in Bermuda.

In 2020, Argus took a bold step in disrupting the healthcare system in Bermuda. We acquired nearly 40 percent of the local primary care providers with the intention to continuously improve healthcare whilst simultaneously tackling health cost inflation.

With over 70 years’ experience in the health insurance OTH and the acquisition of our medical practices means our ecosystem is growing. With the experience we have gained and with our dedicated team of professionals, Argus is poised for growth in Bermuda and overseas.

With our ability to better control spending overseas we started to redirect some of these savings into more meaningful disease prevention programmes in Bermuda.

Take a closer look at our Healthcare Innovation

Argus’ Diabetes Rewind Programme is the first of its kind in Bermuda, where payer and provider have joined efforts to address the Type 2 diabetes epidemic in Bermuda.

We have removed all barriers to access through 100 percent coverage and offered multiple care delivery options through our medical practices. We plan to make a meaningful, positive impact on the incidents of diabetes in Bermuda and beyond.

We are offering qualifying members and patients in person and online support. Our in-person support has been created in partnership with the Bermuda Diabetes Association and overseen by Dr. David Cavan, a specialist in the prevention, management and reversal of diabetes. Our online programme has been created in partnership with UK-based Oviva and is delivered with a tailored and supported Total Diet Replacement programme. Both in-person and online options are administered by our medical practices, and have improved our participants’ health and overall wellbeing.

We plan to make a meaningful, positive impact on the incidents of diabetes in Bermuda and beyond.

Take a closer look at our Patient Experience

Our aim has always been to create a great health care experience and the way to do this is to ask our patients.

We wanted to take a critical look at the experience we were providing our patients; from booking an appointment, to wait times, to quality of care. We ran a patient experience survey to ask for feedback to understand how we were doing and on what we need to focus. Here’s what our patients told us:

95% of surveyed patients are very satisfied or satisfied with the care they are receiving;
95% of surveyed patients are very likely or likely to recommend our care to others;
85% of surveyed patients are seen in less than 15 minutes of their appointment time; and
78%of surveyed patients say it’s very easy to get an appointment

While these results are impressive and reflect the quality and commitment of our doctors and practice colleagues, we know we can enhance the patient experience and have a clear view on where we need to focus.

Take a closer look at our team: Our doctors, nurses, case managers, claims adjudicators, administrators and dedicated professionals are the cornerstone of our health ecosystem. They are the ones who develop our innovative health solutions and provide an outstanding patient experience. But the thing that makes us unique in Bermuda is that they partner with our underwriters, claims analysts, compliance officers, accountants, pension administrators and relationship managers who together create our market leading customer experience. They collectively achieve high customer retention rates in all lines of business; make our online health claims process easier and faster; grow our clients’ investments in their pension plans and outperform our internal benchmarks. Our Argus family, located in Bermuda and Canada, form a formidable force in providing outstanding customer and patient experience.

Thank you. We have had a great year. I am proud of the financial results delivered. A trend that started at the same time as we began the business transformation. We continue to deliver on revenue and profit targets in our traditional businesses while we grow and diversify our fee-based offerings.

I am proud of the difference we are making in people’s lives. The diabetes rewind programme, retirement readiness education, emergency medical hotline, and consultative risk management in our property line are powered by an incredible group of professionals who are making an impact. I appreciate the hard work and dedication of the Argus team and look forward to implementing the plans we have for the coming year.

We plan to make a meaningful, positive impact on the incidents of diabetes in Bermuda and beyond.