Employee payment experience
Manual reimbursement:
- Employee pays full price upfront at clinic
- Employee submits receipt via email/form
- Employee waits 1-2 weeks for reimbursement
- Employee must track claims manually
- No visibility into remaining benefits
Soda:
- Cashless at panel clinics: Show e-card, no payment needed
- App-based claims for non-panel: Submit through the Doctor Anywhere app, not email
- Instant processing: Panel claims are processed immediately
- Real-time tracking: See balance (under Coverage section) and your past activities and claims in the app
- No upfront payment: Better cash flow for employees
Administrative burden
Manual reimbursement:
- HR receives emails/forms with receipts
- HR manually verifies each claim
- HR processes reimbursements (checks/transfers)
- HR tracks spending in spreadsheets
- HR answers employee questions about balances
- Time spent: around 2-5 hours per week (depending on company size)
Soda:
- Automated claims processing
- Real-time dashboard shows all utilization
- No manual reimbursement needed (cashless)
- Automated limit tracking
- Employees see balances in the app or can ask our chatbot: DA Assistant (no HR questions)
- Time spent: 15-30 minutes per week (just reviewing reports)
Savings: 2-4.5 hours per week = 8-18 hours per month
Cost control & visibility
Manual reimbursement:
- No real-time visibility
- Must manually track spending
- Difficult to set limits or controls
- No analytics or insights
- Surprise costs at month-end
Soda:
- Real-time dashboard with all spending
- Set annual limits per employee
- Set co-payments and visit caps
- Monthly spending trends and analytics
- Predictable monthly billing
- Export reports to Excel
Cost savings
Manual reimbursement:
- Employees pay full private rates
- No negotiated rates
- Company reimburses full amount
- No cost control mechanisms
Soda:
- Panel rates: only $13 for GP (comparing to $20-$55 typical GP consultation cost in Singapore) - in-clinic or virtual consultation
- Average bill size: $50 vs. $100+ at private clinics
- Cost savings: 30-50% on medical expenses
- Plus: No admin time costs
Example:
- 20 employees, average 2 GP visits/year each
- Manual: 40 visits × $30 = $1,200 + 10 hours admin time
- Soda: 40 visits × $13 = $520 + 0.5 hours admin time
- Savings: $680 + 9.5 hours
Employee satisfaction
Manual reimbursement:
- Friction: Must pay upfront and wait for reimbursement
- Confusion: Don't know remaining balance
- Delays: 1-2 week wait for reimbursement
- Questions: Constant HR inquiries about claims
Soda:
- Seamless: Cashless experience, no upfront payment
- Transparent: Real-time balance in app
- Fast: Instant processing for panel
- Self-service: Employees manage own claims
Error reduction
Manual reimbursement:
- Human error in claim processing
- Lost receipts
- Duplicate claims
- Incorrect calculations
- Missing documentation
Soda:
- Automated processing reduces errors
- Digital receipts stored in app
- Duplicate detection built-in
- Automated calculations
- Required documentation enforced
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How long does it take to set up Soda vs. manual reimbursement?
A: Manual reimbursement requires no setup (just start processing). Soda setup takes 15-30 minutes (self-serve), but saves hours every week thereafter.
Q: What if I want to keep some manual processes?
A: You can use Soda for panel clinics (cashless) and keep manual reimbursement for specific cases. However, most companies find that full Soda adoption saves the most time and money.