Benefitfocus Buys Benefit Informatics

Charleston, S.C. Benefitfocus has acquired Oklahoma-based Benefit Informatics in a melding of software-as-a-service companies. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Benefit Informatics will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Benefitfocus, retaining its management team. Using a data warehouse to store claims, pharma and lab data, Benefit Informatics' technology provides reports that highlight aggregate trends about health plan usage. The software also provides situational models that analyze design modifications and their impacts, and analyzes healthcare expenses to determine cost drivers and allows users to drill-down from the overall health plan level to the individual member explanation of benefits level.

Employers audit plan activity and receive alerts for high claimants, trigger diagnoses and improperly coded or paid claims. The software also allows individual employees and plan members to access and monitor their healthcare expenses. Members can review both paid and in-process healthcare claims and view the EOB for each. This technology will be added to Benefitfocus' existing capabilities, which employers use to shop, enroll, manage and exchange benefit information.

"Healthcare cost transparency is increasingly important in today's environment. Benefit Informatics' technology provides industry-leading tools to analyze, plan and manage healthcare costs," Shawn Jenkins, president and CEO of Benefitfocus, says in a statement. "Their comprehensive analytics offering adds to the scope of the Benefitfocus Platform and extends the value we deliver to employers, health plans and consumers."

Nathan Golia is senior editor of Insurance & Technology. He joined the publication in 2010 as associate editor and covers all aspects of the nexus between insurance and information technology, including mobility, distribution, core systems, customer interaction, and risk ... View Full Bio