I think, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter the construct of the entity that's handling the issues. I think it's the process and procedures we'll put in place.
To collapse both departments...are we going to create a monolith that no one can handle? I think no matter what we do, there must be clear lines of responsibility, easy to understand interpretive policy, and process that is member focused.
We build processes today to catch people doing things wrong. I think we need to get out of that mentality and start building programs that meet the 99% rule. It doesn't matter how big the entity is, who manages the entity, or how it's configured, but I think the role of this office will always be to ensure that anything we put in place is both efficient and ultimately effective. I do believe there are synergies in that line of thinking. There is opportunity, but there's also danger.
Let's make sure we know what we're talking about doing before we go ahead and just blindly do it.