HTMS, an Emdeon Company, Launches Coverage Scout™ on the Cusp of Health Insurance Marketplace Open Enrollment

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Oct. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- HTMS, an Emdeon company, is pleased to introduce Coverage Scout™, an algorithm-based analytics program that can help all types of healthcare stakeholders calculate health plan rates and federal subsidies through its comparison and advisory capabilities. Coverage Scout is an enterprise-ready application that calculates coverage and subsidies for users in all fifty states and is both easy to use and powerful. In addition, it helps healthcare payers and providers support consumers by illustrating plans, premiums and subsidies available through the Health Insurance Exchange (HIX). The tool is further useful for healthcare payers to understand their competitive position and determine how their products compare against other Qualified Health Plans (QHP) on the HIX Marketplace.

"Coverage Scout is an essential tool for the education and engagement of consumers," said John Gardner, chief business development officer for WINhealth and Coverage Scout user. "It allows our sales representatives to quickly provide coverage options, as well as premium and tax credit information which simplifies the sales process. It helps us enroll more customers because they understand their options better."

Beginning with the November 2014HIX Marketplace open enrollment cycle, Coverage Scout will help healthcare assisters, including brokers, plan-based enrollers and navigators, guide consumers through individualized HIX healthcare coverage options. These healthcare stakeholders can also assist consumers in making enrollment decisions before setting up a personal account on the exchange. Assisters can access Coverage Scout on a tablet while in the field or via a desktop computer. Coverage Scout is available in both iOS and Android operating systems.

"There are 11 million people in the U.S. who are eligible for coverage and subsidies who have not yet enrolled," said Nancy Wise, senior vice president of strategic consulting and regulatory support for HTMS, an Emdeon company. "Research shows that assumptions about affordability, lack of understanding about subsidies and concerns about providing personal information on a government website are all contributing factors to people not enrolling for coverage," Wise continued.^[1]

Don Ames, senior consultant for HTMS and project lead over the Coverage Scout tool explained, "Coverage Scout fills this gap, by providing people fast, easy access to information that fits their own circumstances before setting up a personal account on the exchange."

Coverage Scout will be available as a part of HTMS advisory services, including HTMS HIX consulting services, or as a stand-alone engagement. HTMS staff will be available to demonstrate Coverage Scout at the AHIP Health Insurance Exchange Forums on October 15-17, 2014, in Washington, D.C., and November 17-19, 2014, in Phoenix, Arizona. Further, HTMS is hosting a webinar entitled, "Discover Coverage Scout: Enabling HIX Enrollment," on October 22^nd at 10:30 am CT. Registration for the webinar is available here: http://go.emdeon.com/DiscoverCoverageScout.

^[1] KFF analysis of March 2012 and 2013 Current Population Survey (CPS).

About HTMS
HTMS, an Emdeon company, is a management consulting firm focused exclusively on the healthcare market. HTMS's specialty is helping healthcare organizations achieve their strategic and operational objectives through the use of applied technology and business process optimization. HTMS offers consulting services to help clients innovate, solve problems and improve performance in an ever-changing healthcare environment.  

Over the past eleven years, HTMS has helped more than 120 health plans and delivery systems implement new products, expand their service areas, migrate to new system platforms and reengineer their business processes. In the past year, HTMS worked with more than 20 organizations in 15 states to help prepare for business on health insurance exchanges. Engagements range from complex, multi-year projects to concise and efficient assessments or market inquiries. For more information, visit www.htms.com.

About Emdeon
Emdeon is a leading provider of revenue and payment cycle management and clinical information exchange solutions, connecting payers, providers, pharmacies and patients in the U.S. healthcare system. Emdeon's offerings integrate and automate key business and administrative functions of its payer, provider and pharmacy customers throughout the patient encounter. Through the use of Emdeon's comprehensive suite of solutions, which are designed to easily integrate with existing technology infrastructures, customers are able to improve efficiency, reduce costs, increase cash flow and more efficiently manage the complex revenue and payment cycle and clinical information exchange processes. For more information, visit www.emdeon.com.

SOURCE Emdeon Inc.