Benefitfocus Streamlines Insurance Billing and Payment With New Online eBilling Application

Benefitfocus Streamlines Insurance Billing and Payment With New Online eBilling Application

Benefitfocus eBilling improves efficiency and customer experience, lowers costs and increases cash flow

CHARLESTON, S.C., Jan. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Benefitfocus.com, Inc., the leading provider of insurance enrollment and benefit solutions, today announced the availability of Benefitfocus(SM) eBilling. The new product is the industry's most comprehensive and dynamic electronic invoice presentment and payment (EIPP) application designed specifically for insurance carriers and their customers.

"With an in-depth knowledge of the insurance industry, we've developed a solution to address every aspect of the billing cycle-from invoicing and enrollment updates to automated reconciliation and secure payment transactions," said Shawn Jenkins, CEO of Benefitfocus.com, "Integration with legacy and enrollment systems is our key advantage. This enables a dynamic flow of data, and as a result, eBilling is the first application to provide carriers with a complete, full-circle billing process."

Benefitfocus eBilling features three primary components: web-based invoicing, automated reconciliation, and online bill pay. The application delivers robust capabilities combined with a simple, intuitive interface- designed to streamline processes, lower costs, and improve cash flow. This unique solution integrates with legacy billing systems for flexible and scalable deployment in complex organizations. It also communicates with enrollment systems and seamlessly integrates with the award-winning Benefitfocus Enrollment Application. This enables eBilling to rapidly transmit changes in benefits and generate more accurate, timely billing statements. By replacing slow, error-prone paper processes, eBilling saves insurers an estimated $9.50 for every invoice generated, which quickly adds up to a significant ROI.

"The Benefitfocus eBilling application is allowing us to reduce our administrative invoicing costs," stated Tim Vaughn, CFO of Companion Healthcare. "In addition, eBilling offers a value-add for our customers by consolidating bills plus making them more accurate and easy to understand. Not to mention, we are now able to augment our existing customer service capabilities."

The Challenge

As political debates put a spotlight on the national healthcare crisis, insurance carriers are under increased pressure to become more efficient and minimize costs. Analysts say the primary challenge is to reduce the heavy administrative burden, which accounts for 31% of all healthcare expenditures, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This workload includes the demanding day- to-day handling of enrollment, billing, reconciliation, and payment. Reconciliation alone is a significant cost, and according to a survey of major insurance carriers, approximately 50-60% of all health insurance bills are disputed. These same carriers estimate the reconciliation process costs $30 for every bill in dispute.

While struggling to reduce these costs, insurance companies are also under pressure to meet a new set of customer demands. In the current economy, most employers are operating on tight budgets, and yet many insurance plans are time-consuming and costly for employers to manage. In some cases, for example, employers have to process separate invoices for HMO, PPO, vision, dental, life, and other voluntary products. At the same time, billing statements are often complex, difficult to understand, and worst of all, out-dated. This requires employers to invest time and money to reconcile bills with the most current enrollment information. Due to the slow, cumbersome manual process, invoice adjustments are often untimely and error-prone. Ultimately, for the insurance carrier, this results in delayed payments and reduced cash flow.

The Solution - Benefitfocus eBilling

With proven expertise in enrollment and benefit solutions, Benefitfocus has a comprehensive understanding of the industry's complex business challenge. Building on this knowledge, the company has developed Benefitfocus eBilling to deliver accurate, timely electronic invoices, resolve billing disputes through automated reconciliation, and securely collect payments online. The complete solution offers the most comprehensive set of capabilities for the entire billing process.

Key Features

Benefitfocus eBilling provides a wide range of features designed specifically for insurance carriers to efficiently process invoices-from beginning to end. Key features include:

* Online Invoicing -- enables carriers to easily create and quickly
deliver electronic bills so employers receive the most timely, accurate
statements
* Consolidated Invoicing -- creates one consolidated monthly invoice,
saving employer groups and individual customers the time and difficulty
of managing multiple invoices for HMO, PPO, vision, dental, life, and
voluntary insurance products
* Easy-to-Use Interface -- presents an intuitive interface and logical
workflow to simplify the complex invoice presentment and payment
process
* Automated Invoice Adjustment -- resolves premium collection disputes by
reconciling invoices with employee enrollment lists
* Enrollment and Eligibility Updates -- enables employer groups to manage
employee enrollment lists directly in the invoice and apply credits or
fees to live invoices
* Flexible Legacy Integration -- communicates with enrollment
applications and other legacy systems to rapidly transmit changes in
benefits, enabling carriers to generate more accurate, timely bills
* Daily Updates -- delivers email notifications with updates and links to
customer accounts and invoices
* Electronic Bill Pay -- rapidly transmits payments online and provides
an electronic receipt, improving cash flow and reducing remittance
costs
* Secure Payment Transaction -- secures credit card and financial data
through a high security financial exchange
* Dynamic Reporting -- provides customizable reports, including invoice
records, claims statements, and summaries that users can view, search,
sort, or print
* Extended File Support -- exports to Excel, PDF, CSV, and other popular
formats, enabling employers to utilize invoicing data for managerial
reporting and accounting purposes

Pricing and Availability


Benefitfocus eBilling is priced based on a term license and can be hosted by Benefitfocus or internally by the insurance organization. For additional information regarding Benefitfocus eBilling, please contact the Benefitfocus eBilling team at (843) 849-7476, via email at benefitfocusebilling@benefitfocus.com , or through the website at http://www.benefitfocus.com/ .

Benefitfocus Enrollment Application

Benefitfocus eBilling integrates with the Benefitfocus Enrollment Application to automatically transmit changes in benefits and generate new invoices. The Benefitfocus Electronic Enrollment Engine provides online enrollment and eligibility tools to large and small employers. It allows individual members, HR administrators, agents and carrier membership staff to manage daily transactions in a secure rules-based environment, and delivers these transactions directly into the carrier's membership system.

Complete descriptions of Benefitfocus Enrollment Application, Benefitfocus eBilling, and other Benefitfocus products are available at: http://www.benefitfocus.com/ .

About Benefitfocus.com, Inc.

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.


Source: Benefitfocus.com, Inc.

CONTACT: Stephanie Smith of The Brite Agency, +1-828-350-9500, or
ssmith@briteagency.com ; or Annie Mueller of Benefitfocus.com, Inc.,
+1-843-849-7476, ext. 204, or annie.mueller@benefitfocus.com

Web site: http://www.benefitfocus.com/


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