Zywave Technology Tool Engages Consumerís Role in Health Plan Choices

PlanAdvisor helps employees review their own health cost estimates and make effective enrollment decisions

Insurance brokers can offer personalized planning solutions to employers quickly and easily thanks to PlanAdvisor(TM), a benefits management tool from Zywave, Inc. Zywave has developed a benefits management tool called PlanAdvisor(TM) specifically for insurance brokers to offer personalized planning solutions to employers quickly and easily. It features a Plan Selector module for employees to review their own health cost estimates and make effective enrollment decisions, giving them a more active role in their health care choices. Employees access Plan Selector from a link sent to them by their employer or via a posting placed on HRconnection, an employee information portal that is also available from Zywave.

Changes in the benefits industry and the continued growth of consumerism have signaled a need for insurance brokers to provide services that offer real and measurable solutions to their clients and employees, said Dave OíBrien, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Zywave. PlanAdvisor provides the employer with a benchmark of their current plan and the possible impact of plan design changes and future cost estimates for both medical and pharmaceutical care. Plan Selector helps the employer educate the employee on the real costs for health services, so better choices are made and both achieve true cost-savings. The broker who has this application ultimately secures their trusted advisor role with their client, said OíBrien.

PlanAdvisor generates management reports without carrier data feeds, analyzes the impact of plan design changes and calculates projected plan costs based on trend and claims information. It also offers benchmarking, modeling, and analysis features that allow brokers to deliver information based on industry comparison data and actuarial factors, supporting informed decision-making to their clients.

PlanAdvisor technology resulted from the brokerís need to provide clients with substantiated data analysis quickly and efficiently, said Jim Emling, executive vice president of Zywave. PlanAdvisor addresses this by eliminating the need for carrier data feeds that normally slow down the analysis process. Through simple data entry from carrier reports, brokers gain valuable time and efficiency while providing reliable benchmark data targeting critical cost and utilization areas of concern.

PlanAdvisor is now available, and more information can be found at www.Zywave.com.