Firm Releases Online Group Benefits Procurement Tool Ahead of Schedule
EBenX, Inc., a company that sells business-to-business e-commerce solutions for group health insurance, just released an online procurement tool that facilitates the buying and selling of group benefits for employers, their advisors, health plans and carriers.
The technology replaces traditional methods for the purchase of group health insurance benefits, which eBenX president and CEO John Davis calls "complex, cumbersome, expensive and highly inefficient."
The product is one of a growing number of solutions that technology vendors, consultants and Internet start-ups are peddling to human resource and employee benefits professionals. Most of the products promise to reduce the burdens associated with the benefits administration process.
EBenX completed the development of its Internet-based procurement tool ahead of schedule, Davis said, allowing the company to "present a standardized version of our group benefit exchange that supports the entire benefit plan life cycle online, from procurement, to enrollment, to ongoing eligibility distribution, to billing and payment remittance."
EBenX is now offering Charter Memberships in the eBenX Benefit Exchange to advisors and health plans during the second quarter of 2000, with corresponding enrollment expected in the third and fourth quarters. Benefits Alliance and Employer Benefit Services are among the advisor organizations currently participating in the eBenX Benefit Exchange.
The technology automates a great portion of the group benefits buying cycle. For example, through eBenX OnLine's hosted application, benefit advisors can enter, store and reuse information required for sourcing and underwriting of benefit offerings. The technology also enables benefit advisors to select and design requested benefits packages on behalf of their clients, as well as upload employee census data, claims and other necessary benefit information.
The eBenX Benefit Exchange's Internet-based warehouse of competitive vendor data and profiles enables users to access product and coverage information on vendors in a given geographic market. The list of carriers can be tailored as necessary, the company said.
In addition, electronic vendor notification provides carriers with a direct link to eBenX OnLine Procurement. Carriers log in, check their Procurement activity queue and select specific RFPs for which they want to post a bid. They then access and download census, claims and other information needed for underwriting and submit a bid online. The submission of requested rates triggers a notification to the advisor as each bid is posted. The advisor may then accept, decline, or further negotiate through the Procurement tool.
Advisors and carriers can view and download current status reports for each round of negotiation. Once the RFP is closed, OnLine Procurement also provides a unified proposal report that allows the advisor to compare bids received for each market in which the employer is sourcing benefits. The unified proposal may then be downloaded for presentation to the advisor's client.