Amid Discontinuation of Federal Small Business Health Insurance Exchange, Softheon Offers a Risk-Free SaaS & BPaaS Solution for State Exchanges

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Managed Care Weekly Digest -- Softheon, a leader in cloud-based health insurance exchanges, has announced that its proven Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Business-Process-as-a-Service (BPaaS) solutions can assist States looking to preserve their ability to offer small businesses affordable care options. The announcement follows the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) decision to discontinue the Federally-Facilitated Small Business Health Options Program (FF-SHOP) (see also Softheon).

Officials from CMS announced that the agency would implement a FF-SHOP overhaul. Under the proposal, 33 FF-SHOP Exchanges would effectively shut down on January 1, 2018. As of January 2017, 7,554 employers had active SHOP coverage through the FF-SHOP, and covered 38,749 employees.

"Over two years ago, we predicted that the federal grants authorized by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would not be available indefinitely to subsidize federal and state exchanges. Softheon has led the emergence of a new field of vendors - 'Exchange Operators' - that specialize in commercial software and operations for state exchanges, to support plan comparison and selection, enrollment, financial management, and other transactions," stated Eugene Sayan, Softheon Founder, CEO, and Chairman.

Since 2008, Softheon has played a critical role in establishing the nation's first state health benefit exchange. For 2017, the Softheon Cloud has been trusted by 37% of health insurers to manage 24% of ACA membership. Having attained this expertise, Softheon Government Solutions is uniquely qualified to partner with States currently utilizing the Federal HealthCare.Gov platform to operate their FF-SHOPs.

"By contrast with 2006, when the Massachusetts Health Connector commenced, or even 2011, when state and federal Marketplaces began to request proposals and contracts for IT development, a robust field of private Exchange Operators, such as Softheon now exist," added Jon Kingsdale, Ph.D., Senior Strategy Advisor at the Wakely Consulting Group. Dr. Kingsdale was appointed by Governor Mitt Romney to organize and lead the Massachusetts Health Connector in 2006, which serves as a model for health insurance exchanges under national health reform.

Last year, Softheon collaborated on HIX 2.0 Exchange Operator - A New Model for Marketplace Operations and Information Technology with Jon Kingsdale, Rosemarie Day, President of Day Health Strategies, who served as the Founding Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority in Massachusetts, and Juan Montanez of Health Management Associates.

Providing its commercial off-the-shelf cloud-based SaaS & BPaaS solution, Softheon supports multiple sales channels, real-time enrollment & underwriting with standard and composite rating, integrated premium billing, bill presentment & payment, and analytical tools for employers, brokers, and health insurance carriers.

Sayan added, "Softheon recognizes the challenges and uncertainties that accompany CMS' decision. By migrating their FF-SHOP Exchanges to the Softheon Cloud, States seeking reprieve may retain their ability to serve their small business population. Softheon's FF-SHOP contingency option offers a minimal risk, 90-day implementation plan with full regulatory compliance."

Keywords for this news article include: Softheon, Software, Health Insurance.

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