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| Benefitfocus and Subimo Ally Efforts |
| Combined offerings provide complete consumer healthcare management solutions to employers, benefit providers, and individuals |
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CHARLESTON, SC and CHICAGO, IL, - September 26, 2006 – Benefitfocus, the leading provider of consumer-directed healthcare software and services, and Subimo, the recognized leader in Web-based healthcare tools for consumers, today announced a partnership designed to provide employers, benefit providers, insurance carriers, and consumers with a comprehensive set of online tools to help implement and manage complex healthcare decisions. Through the Benefitfocus Consumer Healthcare Portal, individuals will be able to manage benefits, financial healthcare accounts, and health and wellness information in a single all-inclusive location.
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“Consumers are taking advantage of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and high deductible health plans, and they need information and decision-making tools to manage their health,” said Shawn Jenkins, president and CEO of Benefitfocus. “We already have many common customers, and this partnership allows us to jointly offer tremendous value to the industry. The Benefitfocus and Subimo integrated, single sign-on platform provides consumers with one comprehensive online location in which to research, evaluate, purchase, enroll, and maintain their benefits and personal health information.”
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“By combining Benefitfocus’ HSA enrollment services and innovative tools with Subimo’s provider directory capabilities and physician comparison module, we have made it easier for consumers to make educated healthcare decisions,” said Ann Mond Johnson, president of the Chicago-based Subimo. “It’s a unique partnership and one that truly supports the principles of consumer-driven healthcare.”
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Today, with an influx of healthcare choices like HSAs and Health Reimbursement Accounts, employees are having a hard time assessing the risk and financial exposure of consumer-driven health plan (CDHPs) options. However, as companies like Benefitfocus and Subimo have discovered, healthcare technology can proactively assist consumers in their decision-making processes.
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“Without health information and decision tools, the average plan participant is lost in a sea of choices,” said Jenkins. “But Benefitfocus and Subimo have been committed to navigating the CDHP market since its inception.”
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The Benefitfocus Consumer Healthcare portal allows individuals to build custom health plans based on specific needs. Using decision tools such as surveys, plan comparisons, and cost calculators, consumers can make more informed healthcare decisions and build a personal plan for healthcare. Being a smart healthcare shopper is nearly impossible when it requires individuals to search multiple websites and portals for information on diseases and treatment options, all while making important plan comparisons based on confusing information. But an integrated portal, for instance, that shows a soon-to-be mother which insurance plan is best for her family’s care; the best nearby labor and delivery hospitals; compares local pediatricians; and offers immediate advice on financial planning and spending will ultimately guide consumers to better decision making.
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The Subimo Web-based content includes an array of healthcare information, as well as a health cost estimator that helps plan participants estimate their annual healthcare costs in preparation for choosing a CHDP and make decisions about healthcare treatment and procedure options. Using Subimo's Healthcare AdvisorSM, members can access healthcare information on local or nationwide hospitals, medical conditions, and treatment options—in Spanish or English. Additionally, Healthcare Advisor enables consumers to find out what to expect prior to surgery and locate the appropriate hospital for a certain health need.
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“Future upgrades to our software will allow consumers to create personal health and wellness profiles; the platform will only extract content on items that fit that specific profile,” explained Jenkins. “It is going to be the premier end-to-end platform for consumers to manage their health and health related benefits.”
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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 Mount Pleasant, SC (Charleston), and has an established client base of over 8,000 corporate employers in all fifty states.
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About Subimo
Headquartered in Chicago, IL, Subimo, LLC licenses an award-winning suite of decision tools, which provide a unique combination of data, content, personalized and interactive models, along with a variety of online wellness tools, so consumers can easily manage and track their personal health status, select insurance coverage, fund their tax-preferred accounts, determine costs for medical services, and select hospitals, drugs, and physicians. Everyone saves money when consumers have better information and can make better choices. Nearly 75 million Americans have access to Subimo's tools through their insurance company or employer. For more information, visit www.subimo.com or call 888-SUBIMO-1.
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