Benefitfocus Delivers Enhancements to Shopping and Quoting Functions for Health Plans

Rhea-AI Summary

Benefitfocus (NASDAQ: BNFT) has announced significant updates to its Benefitplace™ platform for health plan users, aimed at enhancing the Shopping & Quoting functions. These updates, driven by user feedback, include a refined general agency role, improved employee participation rating, and enhanced plan display for brokers. Further upgrades are expected in June, such as the ability to offer supplemental insurance products and more comprehensive census data collection. This initiative aims to boost efficiency and sales growth for health plans and improve user satisfaction.

Positive

• Enhanced Shopping & Quoting functions aimed at increasing efficiency for health plan users.
• User-driven updates reflect a commitment to customer satisfaction.
• New features support better proposal generation, improving communication for agents and brokers.

Negative

• None.

CHARLESTON, S.C., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Benefitfocus, Inc. (NASDAQ: BNFT), a leading technology platform provider enabling rapid innovation for employers, health plans and consumers, today announces significant software updates to its Benefitplace™ platform specific to health plan users, with further upgrades set for release in mid-June. The updates enhance the Shopping & Quoting functions on the platform, to further simplify selling and distribution through an automated, insight-driven experience for brokers and groups.

"These enhancements represent our ongoing commitment to provide end-to-end solutions that increase efficiency, improve satisfaction and accelerate sales growth for our health plan customers, as part of our mission of improving lives through benefits," said Ravi Metta, Executive Vice President, Product & Engineering, Benefitfocus. "They are driven by direct input from our users, which is crucial, because we know the real value of our solutions can only be determined by the satisfaction level of the people who use them."

The software updates will impact the Shopping & Quoting experience in the following ways:

• General Agency Role: By expanding the hierarchy of the general agency role, users will be able to manage a book of business by enabling multiple sub-agencies to be assigned to the general agency.
• Employee Participation for Preliminary Rating: Agents or brokers will be able to generate a more accurate proposal by entering the estimated employee participation level for each product when calculating premiums.
• Carrier Logos in Plan Comparison: Carrier logos are displayed in the plan comparison experience, providing a clear visual of which insurance carrier is being offered.
• Proposal PDF Output: The standard proposal documents incorporate the information and details needed for agents and brokers to effectively communicate products, plans and rates to a group customer.
• Census File Import: Updating the census file loading process with a more intuitive experience that will provide communication on errors and how to resolve them.
• Plan Display: Health Plans now have the ability manage the display order of plans presented to agents and brokers, allowing them to strategically position their products and plans to group customers.

In June, further enhancements will debut:

• Offer Supplemental Insurance Products to Group Employees with Individual Quoting: Employers will be able to offer employees individual supplemental insurance products through the Quoting experience with individual / family rates.
• Census: Additional fields will be added to the census offering health plans the opportunity to request additional data. New fields include dependent Social Security Numbers, dependent email addresses, employee and dependent addresses and phone numbers.
• Proposal: The provider network for each product/plan will be added to the proposal outputs to provide employers with the associated provider network, enabling them to easily identify the associated network and review the in-network providers.
• End of Month Quoting Date: Health plans will be able to use rules to enforce the last day of each month for proposals with an effective date in the same month. The new rules allow for dates to vary from month to month and the ability to extend the date without deploying code.

Connect with Benefitfocus
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About Benefitfocus 
Benefitfocus (NASDAQ: BNFT) unifies the entire benefits industry through innovative technology solutions that bring efficiency, cost savings and simplicity to employee benefits administration. Our powerful cloud-based software, data-driven insights and thoughtfully designed services help employers, insurance brokers, health plans and suppliers address the complexity of benefits enrollment and engagement, while bringing easier access to health, wealth and lifestyle products through a world-class benefits experience. Our mission is simple: to improve lives with benefits. Learn more at www.benefitfocus.com, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

DISCLAIMER REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS 
Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations, and assumptions contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. Actual results might differ materially from those explicit or implicit in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: volatility and uncertainty in the global economy and financial markets in light of the evolving COVID-19 pandemic and uncertainties arising from the recent U.S. elections; our continuing losses and need to achieve GAAP profitability; fluctuations in our financial results; our ability to maintain our culture, retain and motivate qualified personnel; the immature and volatile market for our products and services; risks related to changing healthcare and other applicable regulations; risks associated with acquisitions; cyber-security risks; the need to innovate and provide useful products and services; our ability to compete effectively; privacy, security and other risks associated with our business; and the other risk factors set forth from time to time in our SEC filings, copies of which are available free of charge within the Investor Relations section of the Benefitfocus website at http://investor.benefitfocus.com/sec-filings or upon request from our Investor Relations Department. Benefitfocus assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

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SOURCE Benefitfocus, Inc.

FAQ

What recent updates did Benefitfocus announce for its Benefitplace™ platform on May 7, 2021?

Benefitfocus announced significant software updates to its Benefitplace™ platform, enhancing Shopping & Quoting functions for health plan users.

How will the updates to the Benefitplace™ platform improve agent and broker experiences?

The updates will streamline proposal generation, improve accuracy in premium calculations, and simplify the plan comparison process.

What new features can we expect from Benefitfocus in June 2021?

In June, Benefitfocus plans to introduce features like individual supplemental insurance offerings and enhanced census data collection capabilities.

What impact are the software updates expected to have on Benefitfocus's health plan customers?

The updates are designed to increase efficiency, enhance user satisfaction, and accelerate sales growth for health plan customers.