How to Efficiently Gather Medical Health Underwriting for Group Benefits

Obtaining group health insurance information for underwriting efficiently can be challenging. From gathering the right data to managing employees filling out the forms to ensuring the correct steps are followed — the whole process can be extremely time-intensive when done manually. However, using a medical health questionnaire (MHQ) can prove lucrative for your clients. Research has found that using an MHQ can help reduce premiums by up to 15%. 

By leveraging the right technology and strategies, your benefits team can dramatically streamline your approach to medical health underwriting. This article will guide you through best practices for efficiently gathering group benefits medical questionnaires, helping your agency save significant time and resources. 

Understanding the Medical Health Questionnaire (MHQ)

Before we dive into how to make gathering MHQ information more efficient, let’s level-set with some frequently asked questions.

What is a medical health questionnaire?

A medical health questionnaire, also known as a group benefits MHQ, is a comprehensive form used to collect detailed health information from individuals in employer groups seeking insurance coverage. This crucial tool helps group health insurance carriers assess health risks and determine appropriate coverage and premiums for a given employer group. 

What is included in an MHQ?

An MHQ usually asks a series of in-depth questions to gather data, such as:

• Personal/demographic information
• An individual’s personal and family medical history
• A list of current medications
• Lifestyle factors (i.e., smoking, alcohol consumption, etc.)

When is an MHQ required?

Group health plans often require MHQs when:

• Applying for new group coverage (depends on the type of group health insurance coverage)
• Adding new members to existing group plans 
• Renewing group policies with significant changes

Why should an agent use an MHQ over an employee census?

It’ll greatly depend on the type of plan your group benefits agency wants to quote. Different plans require different levels of employee information. For example, many level-funded group health insurance plans require an MHQ because the carriers need to assess the group’s overall health before they can provide an accurate quote for coverage, premiums, etc. 

Why Gathering MHQ Data Manually is Losing You Business

It’s important to collect medical health questionnaire data, and for some plans, it is required. However, doing so manually can be time-intensive for group benefits agencies. Breaking it down, traditional methods for gathering MHQ data often include:

• Distributing paper forms
• Waiting for employees to complete them
• Sending multiple check-ins to ensure completion 
• Manually inputting the data into the carrier’s quoting portal
• Repeating any of those steps if there are errors or resending requests from carriers

This approach is not only inefficient but also prone to errors. 

Simple things like using the wrong color of ink or illegible handwriting can add more time to the process, requiring agents to manage more back-and-forths with employees or HR reps, issue and collect new questionnaires, and more. Additionally, each carrier requires a different set of questions or specific wording for their MHQ forms. This makes things more difficult if an agent wants to gather quotes from multiple carriers at once to give an employer group the best coverage at the best rate. 

It begs the question: Is there a better way?

The answer? Absolutely. By leveraging technology to streamline the group benefits MHQ process, employee benefits agents can save significant resources, improve accuracy, and provide better customer service.

How Benefits Brokers Can Make MHQ Data Acquisition More Efficient 

To improve MHQ efficiencies, many group benefits agencies are adopting digital platforms. These technologies allow for faster data collection, improved accuracy, and easier updates, ultimately saving significant resources. One way to efficiently collect this data is with a multi-carrier group quoting solution with a built-in medical health questionnaire tool, like AgencyBloc’s Quote+ solution.

Using a solution like Quote+, your benefits agency can:

• Ensure Accuracy: Every carrier has a different list of required questions and fields for their MHQ data. Instead of spending your time issuing multiple MHQs and asking employees to fill them out, you can have them fill out one all-encompassing survey that meets the requirements for all carriers automatically. Plus, it takes the worry of illegible handwriting and incorrect ink out of the question since it’s all digital. 
• Reduce Premium Costs for Groups: An MHQ gives group health insurance carriers in-depth information about the health of any employer group. This allows them to perform informed risk assessments and offer competitive pricing/coverage. Research has found that using an MHQ over an employee census can help carriers reduce premiums by as much as 15% in their quote.
• Minimize Back-and-Forth Communication: When using the traditional method to gather MHQ data, benefits agents spend a significant amount of time connecting with employees and HR reps to ensure the process is moving along. Digitizing the experience and using a built-in portal reduces this burden by giving agents instant insight into which questionnaires are complete, in progress, or yet to start. Take it a step further and use workflow automation to send emails to all the employees in an employer group to ensure everyone knows their next steps. 
• Ensures Security: We all know security can be a headache. But it doesn’t have to be when you partner with the right vendor. AgencyBloc is HIPAA and HITRUST-Compliant, and we have our SOC 2 Type II report. That means we take security seriously and stay up-to-date with the latest trends. 
• Streamline Carrier Submission: Once you’ve received all of the MHQ information, you still have to get it to the carriers. However, manually entering the information is a pain and error-prone. Using the right technology can take this step out of the equation by automatically mapping all of the data directly to the carrier(s) when you submit for quotes. 

By embracing these strategies, benefits agencies can transform how they collect MHQ data, leading to better group benefits management and increased efficiencies.

How AgencyBloc's Quote+ Solution Streamlines MHQ Data Acquisition

AgencyBloc's Quote+ solution revolutionizes the process of gathering employee medical health data for group insurance quoting and enrollment. 

By leveraging a built-in online medical health questionnaire (MHQ) and enrollment automation, Quote+ enables agents to efficiently and securely collect and organize employee health information. The guided MHQ walks employees through pertinent questions, ensuring comprehensive and accurate data collection. Then, that data maps directly to the carriers all within the same platform. These efficiencies allow group benefits insurance agencies to focus more on client relationships and less on administrative tasks, ultimately leading to business growth.

"Since implementing Quote+, we've been able to significantly increase our companies under management and the premiums generated by them, while also decreasing our average sales cycle. We can now send initial quotes in 10-15 minutes after we get the census. Quote+ has been a huge benefit and advantage for us."

—Clayton R., Apollo Insurance Group

Mastering the art of efficient group benefits MHQ completion is crucial for streamlining your health underwriting process. By implementing these strategies, your benefits team can significantly reduce time and resources while maintaining accuracy and improving customer service. 

Posted by Allison Babberl on Tuesday, April 1, 2025 in Medical Health Questionnaire Software

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