September 27, 2006

Benefitfocus announces new partnership

Daily Journal Staff  /  Charleston Regional Business Journal

Mount Pleasant-based Benefitfocus.com and Chicago-based Subimo have announced a partnership designed to provide a comprehensive set of online tools to help implement and manage complex health care decisions.

Through the Benefitfocus Consumer Healthcare Portal, individuals will be able to manage benefits, financial health care accounts, and health information in a single, all-inclusive location. Benefitfocus is a provider of health care software and services. Subimo is a recognized leader in Web-based health care tools.

"Consumers are taking advantage of Health Savings Accounts 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 Consumer Healthcare portal allows individuals to build custom health plans. Using decision tools such as surveys, plan comparisons and cost calculators, consumers can make health care decisions and build a personal health care plan. The Subimo Web-based content includes an array of health care information, as well as a health cost estimator that helps participants estimate their annual health care costs and make decisions about health care treatment and procedure options. Members can access health care information on local or nationwide hospitals, medical conditions and treatment options in Spanish or English.

"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."