For Immediate Release                                 

Providence Health Plan Sees 92 Percent Increase in Application Rate Using ConnectedHealth’s Web-Based Platform to Guide Members in Selecting Personalized Health Benefit Plans

• New Interactive Website Provides Personalized Plan Recommendation, Helps Prospective Members Compare Financial Risks
• Easy Comparisons Give Prospective Members Confidence in Their Decision

CHICAGO, IL – January 12, 2012 – ConnectedHealth, an innovative health insurance exchange platform for health insurers, employers, and consumers, today announced that Providence Health Plan, based in Beaverton, Oregon, has experienced a significant increase in its application rate for individual and family insurance plans. Providence Health Plan implemented ConnectedHealth’s new web-based platform, allowing consumers searching for individual and family health insurance to obtain personalized plan recommendations, based on their risk tolerance and personal preferences.

“We understand health insurance can be confusing and want to provide people in the communities we serve with the tools to help them navigate their health insurance options,” said Barbara Christensen, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer for Providence Health Plan. By using ConnectedHealth’s online plan selection tool, Christensen said “consumers understand their total financial exposure for all of our plan options. Equipped with that information, our consumers have the confidence and peace of mind that they are making the best decisions for their health and financial security.”

For Providence Health Plan, that consumer confidence has translated into a 92 percent increase in applications in just five months after implementation. ConnectedHealth’s Platform, including its proprietary Recommendation Engine, provides personalized plan recommendations based on the consumer’s own risk tolerance, personal preferences and budget. With this technology, consumers are able to think beyond their monthly insurance premium and focus on their entire financial cost, helping them to make smart choices when selecting their insurance. Consumers can also access ConnectedHealth’s Insurance Resource Center, offering intuitive, consumer-friendly information and insurance examples so they can better understand the complexities of health insurance.

“We are thrilled to have such great results so quickly for Providence Health Plan. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of Providence Health Plan’s focus on being consumer-oriented,” said Joe Donlan, President of ConnectedHealth. “Providence Health Plan understands the evolution of the market and the importance of consumer empowerment, and its commitment to arming their members with the tools to help them select the right benefits plan ensures that their members make wise choices about their health and health care dollars.”

About Providence Health Plan
Providence Health Plans provides health care coverage services to almost 400,000 adults and children in Oregon, Washington and Alaska. Providence focuses on improving the health of its members by creating access to high-quality programs and preventive services. Providence is recognized for its excellent customer service and its top-rated benefit plans. Providence Health Plans is part of Providence Health & Services – Oregon, the state’s largest network of health services and largest private employer. Visit www.providence.org/healthplans.

About ConnectedHealth
ConnectedHealth, based in Chicago, Illinois, is a provider of a new health insurance exchange decision-support platform for health insurers, employers, and consumers. The ConnectedHealth team has leveraged its deep experience in helping consumers make health care decisions to develop breakthrough technology guiding insurance purchasing decisions. For the first time, consumers can review personalized plan recommendations based on their expected out-of-pocket health care costs and on their personal and financial preferences. The Company’s innovative approach helps consumers to think beyond their monthly premium, so they are smarter about how to maximize their benefit dollars and protect themselves against their financial risk. To learn more, please visit, www.ConnectedHealth.com.

Contact:
Shannon Callaway
(800) 977-4204 x104
media@connectedhealth.com

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CHICAGO, IL – September 14, 2011 – ConnectedHealth, the provider of a new health insurance exchange decision-support platform for health insurers, employers, and consumers, today announced the availability of its next-generation solution to the problem of making smart choices in health care. Deploying breakthrough, patent-pending, technology ConnectedHealth enables employees and individuals to think beyond their monthly insurance premium, fully understand their likely out-of-pocket expenses for health care under each benefit option, and make decisions so they can maximize their benefit dollars.

Leveraging extensive experience in helping consumers make health care decisions, ConnectedHealth brings together a comprehensive suite of unique web-based solutions that allow employers and health plans to deliver a range of benefit options while also helping them manage their cost exposure. ConnectedHealth’s platform is comprised of its:

• Recommendation Engine, which provides personalized plan recommendations and allows for easy comparison to ensure employees and prospective plan members select the right plan for them.
• Insurance Resource Center, which offers a guided shopping experience that is intuitive and easy, including consumer-friendly information about insurance.
• Private Exchange Platform, which can be deployed during open enrollment and combined with account management technology to support defined contribution plans.

To learn more about ConnectedHealth’s platform and experience its interactive website, visit www.ConnectedHealth.com. 

“Given recent health care legislation, the realities for health plans and employers are changing rapidly. More than ever, members and employees need easy-to-use technology to help them select the right health plan best suited to their preferences and budget,” said John Fiacco, CEO of ConnectedHealth. “We’ve designed our suite of web-based applications to be flexible and easy to implement, while also offering consumers an intuitive, guided experience to help them make smart choices about their health-related dollars and balance their financial risk.”

Helping to Position Health Plans for Success in a Changing Market

Health plans across the country are focusing their strategies on strengthening their distribution channels and growing new business by leveraging technology that will help them sell their products more cost effectively. ConnectedHealth’s solutions are designed to help health plans implement strategies that ensure success.

With ConnectedHealth, health plans can now:

• Expand their business in the individual market by offering a powerful platform that will streamline the evaluation and purchase of a product by an individual.
• Complete acquisition and retention strategies by offering more employee choice in the small and mid-size group market.
• Provide a holistic strategy to national accounts to meet the needs of all of their employees, whether they are group eligible, non-group eligible, or in transition.
• Offer a turn-key private exchange to facilitate the transition to defined contribution.

“ConnectedHealth provides value and cost savings for almost any facet of a health insurer’s sales objectives. By offering a complete, intuitive shopping experience, plans help consumers make better choices about insurance that ultimately drive results for small business and individual sales as well as national accounts,” said Joe Donlan, President of ConnectedHealth. “As the market continues to shift towards becoming more retail-based, ConnectedHealth is positioned to help carriers with their direct-to-consumer strategy and provide solutions for the employer to gain access to, and create loyalty among, their employees.”

One Platform Designed to Help Fulfill Employers’ Health Benefits Strategy

Employers continue to be challenged with health care costs and need new solutions that will continue to help them attract and retain talented employees. ConnectedHealth works with employers to facilitate the roll-out of their chosen health benefits strategy, whether it is a traditional group model or a defined contribution plan.

ConnectedHealth’s Recommendation Engine offers employees personalized plan recommendations, based on their expected out-of-pocket health care costs and on their personal and financial preferences. The Company’s technology helps employees think beyond the monthly premium, so they are smarter about how to maximize their benefit dollars and protect themselves against their financial risk. By offering a solution that addresses all employees’ needs (including group eligibles, part-time or contract employees, or employees in transition), companies can now:

• Implement a robust and powerful platform, allowing employers the flexibility to offer as many plan options as they’d like, while making it easy for employees to compare plans and find the right one for them.
• Better support for part-time employees and contractors not eligible for group coverage, new employees seeking short term coverage prior to being eligible for group coverage, or COBRA eligible employees looking for more affordable options.
• Combine the benefits of ConnectedHealth’s Private Exchange with spending account management technology (for HRAs, HSAs, etc.) to support any benefit design – from defined benefits to defined contribution programs.
• Offer technology to multi-state employers whose benefit strategies often call for a broader range of products, while helping employees every step of the way. ConnectedHealth provides easy and seamless integration with companies’ existing benefits portal and offers superior customer support – telephonically and online.

ConnectedHealth will be presenting at the upcoming Health 2.0 Conference as part of the Employer 2.0 Panel, “New Tools for Benefits & Purchasing.” The conference will take place from September 25-27 in San Francisco and will bring together thousands of leading healthcare software developers, start-up companies, global corporations, payers, providers, and HIT vendors as they preview and launch the latest innovations in healthcare.

About ConnectedHealth

ConnectedHealth is based in Chicago, Illinois, and is a provider of a new health insurance exchange decision-support platform for health insurers, employers, and consumers. The ConnectedHealthteam has leveraged its deep experience in helping consumers make health care decisions to develop breakthrough technology to guide insurance purchasing decisions. For the first time, consumers can review personalized plan recommendations based on their expected out-of-pocket health care costs and on their personal and financial preferences. The Company’s innovative approach helps consumers to think beyond their monthly premium, so they are smarter about how to maximize their benefit dollars and protect themselves against their financial risk. To learn more about ConnectedHealth, please visit www.ConnectedHealth.com.

Too many choices can make a decision difficult, especially when it’s hard to compare all of the options. Layer in our predictable human biases (for example, our strong tendency to stay with the status quo, or our equally strong aversion to a potential loss) and our inability to accurately assess our risks, and it turns out that we’re not very good at making complex decisions, even when we can keep our emotions from interfering with our decision making.

ConnectedHealth uses findings like these to structure the way we guide consumers in making their benefits selection. By incorporating key lessons from the science of decision making, we help consumers avoid common pitfalls … ultimately helping them make better decisions.

Find out more about our research on consumer decision making and how choosing benefits is different from choosing shoes.

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