Title : Monitoring Staff Medical Benefits via an Insurance Firm Established corporations normally offer staff medical benefits as a human resources strategy to attract competent people to join the organization. The medical benefits will include general as well as specialized treatment by a panel of medical practitioners in public and selected private hospitals. Such employee benefits will be formally stated in an employment service contract signed between the employee and employer. In the 1980s and 1990s, Human Resources (HR) Departments used to appoint HR officers to handle and administer staff medical benefits directly. Staff were given the trust and freedom to approach panel clinics and hospitals for treatment based on their medical complications. Panel clinic doctors would, in turn, assess the patient’s ailment and propose a visit to a specialist for selected cases if the ailment required specialist medical treatment. However, in the 21st century, the role of insurance firms to monitor and administer employee medical benefits was introduced for various reasons. Apart from being a cost-cutting measure, organizations perceived that staff were not always honest when claiming for medical benefits. Employers felt that some staff took advantage of the benefits given, and further scrutiny by an appointed insurance firm was necessary to justify the use of specialist treatment at private hospitals, as well as the type of medication prescribed. Krista is a Marketing executive at Mercury Corporation. She suffers from prolonged knee problems caused by her line of work which entails excessive walking and travelling. As a result of intense discomfort and pain, Krista consulted a panel clinic doctor, who then referred her to an orthopaedic specialist at a private hospital. The orthopaedic specialist prescribed Krista a glucose–calcium based medication—Viartril-S—to treat her knees, and she was hopeful for a speedy recovery. To Krista’s surprise and dismay, when she went to collect the prescription at the hospital’s pharmacy, the cashier told her to pay for it—the cost will not be borne by her employer. Krista immediately checked with the HR Department of Mercury Corporation, and was informed that Viartril-S was not covered by her medical benefits as it was considered a supplement, not medicine. The HR officer further emphasized that this was stipulated in the general guidelines on staff medical benefits prepared by the insurance firm appointed by her employer. Coincidentally, Krista did not have sufficient money to purchase the Viartril-S, and left the hospital empty-handed and disappointed. On the way home, while coping with the pain in her knees, several issues crossed Krista’s mind. She checked her employment service contract when she returned to the office the next day. There was no written guidelines for supplements under medical benefits within the clauses of her original employment service contract. QUESTION: Suggest ways to resolve Krista’s problem for a win-win situation.