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Benefitfocus and IBM Announce New Health Insurance Carrier Enrollment Solution
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Charleston, South Carolina - June 19, 2002 - - Benefitfocus.com, Inc. and IBM today announced a complete innovative Internet and kiosk-based Electronic Enrollment Solution for health insurance carriers.
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Benefitfocus provides the software application technology, client implementation services, and ongoing client support. The solution is based on an IBM technology infrastructure, including IBM hardware, hosting services, security and disaster recovery capabilities. This Internet and kiosk-based solution is designed from the ground up to be multilingual capable as well as easily adapted to an individual carriers own private label and web site standards.
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This solution is rapidly deployed in an IBM hosting facility or can be set up directly in a health insurance carriers own data center. The technology exchanges enrollment information in industry standard HIPAA 834 EDI transaction sets or proprietary data exchange formats. Data is dynamically integrated with the carriers existing membership and billing systems.
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The Benefitfocus and IBM offering is built 100 percent around Internet architecture, making the solution accessible to virtually any health insurance client or member. This solution has been designed for use with innovative touch-screen kiosks placed at corporate locations. These kiosk stations become a year round 24/7 access point for all employees to get updated human resource and benefits information.
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A combination of factors is driving the incredible demand for Electronic Enrollment within the health insurance industry. Legislation such as the Health Insurance Accountability and Portability Act (HIPAA) and the E-Signs Act paved the way for Internet and kiosk-based Electronic Enrollment and communication of benefits. Additionally, replacing costly error prone paper-based enrollment processes with Internet technology is unlocking millions of dollars of savings for carriers. Finally, the adoption of new consumer-driven health products, along with market demand of corporate clients, have all resulted in a massive adoption of Internet-based Electronic Enrollment, by health insurance carriers, for their groups.
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"We have seen for some time the emergence of Internet technology in the health care marketplace. Possibly the most exciting area in health care where change is taking place is the rapid adoption of consumer-driven health products combined with replacement of paper with innovative Electronic Enrollment technology," says Pat Falotico, vice president, sales, SMB Americas, Emerging & Competitive Markets, IBM. "The combination of IBM technology with the Benefitfocus solution, provides the health care world the best that IBM has to offer in security as well as hosting technology and infrastructure, combined with the tremendous innovation and support of Benefitfocus."
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This new Internet and kiosk-based solution provides the secure, robust ability to rapidly deploy this technology for health insurance carriers and their clients. Additionally, as security is a major concern of health insurance carriers, Benefitfocus and IBM have designed and developed the solution around the most substantial security practices available. This solution is deployed in conjunction with the health carrier's internal security policies and procedures, as well as the substantial resources of the IBM security practice.
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"We have built a robust and scalable Internet application for health insurance carriers," states Doug Moreland, Chief Technology Officer of Benefitfocus. "Our combined deployment with IBM brings further enhanced scalability and security to the overall system. This gives any health insurance carrier the peace of mind that they have leading edge technology combined with substantial technology resources to stand behind it." |
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IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. IBM strives to lead in the creation, development and manufacture of the industry's most advanced information technologies, including computer systems, software, networking systems, storage devices and microelectronics. We translate these advanced technologies into value for our customers through our professional solutions and services businesses worldwide. The fastest way to get more information about IBM is through the IBM home page at www.ibm.com
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About Benefitfocus
Benefitfocus.com, Inc. (Benefitfocus) is a leading provider of benefits administration software and services, offering employees and employers access to all benefits and human resource information securely over the Internet. Linking this data to payroll vendors and benefit providers, Benefitfocus applications seamlessly exchange data, therefore reducing errors and costs associated with traditional paper-based forms. Benefitfocus applications are designed to make companies more efficient, cost-effective, and more focused on delivering actual benefits instead of spending time on undue paperwork.
The company is headquartered in Charleston, SC and has an established client base of over 8,000 corporate employers in all fifty states.
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