BLOOMFIELD, Conn., Aug. 1, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Citing a strong and growing market demand for products and services that enable consumerism and consumer choice in health care, CIGNA HealthCare today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Choicelinx, a privately-held, consumer- focused benefits technology and services company.
Choicelinx, based in Manchester, NH, specializes in developing proprietary, Internet-based technology services to provide health plans and third party administrators vehicles through which they can offer personalized health care products and decision support to consumers. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
“Providing benefits plans and health advocacy services that help consumers make informed health care decisions are among CIGNA’s core strengths and are also a foundation for future product innovation as health care consumerism grows,” said David Cordani, president of CIGNA HealthCare. “These capabilities are enhanced by our investment in the technology solutions, expertise and entrepreneurial approach for which Choicelinx is known.”
Choicelinx products and services will be offered to CIGNA HealthCare customers as an integral part of CIGNA’s extensive consumer-focused product suite, providing customers the administrative ease of working with one company for their benefit plan design and technology needs. Choicelinx products and services include:
Benefits Configurator(SM) - Consumer customization for all benefits at the point of enrollment, addressing consumer-focused product trends. For example, consumers can choose their copayment or coinsurance amounts for different health care services, based on their anticipated health care needs and financial preferences.
Enrollment Manager(SM) - A complete online enrollment solution with automated rules, flexible content, and page design that can be customized according to individual employers’ needs and that allows employees to enroll in their benefits plan over the Web.
Plan Selector(SM) - A consumer decision support tool that integrates employers’ benefits plan information onto a web-based platform that allows consumers to review and compare plan options.
Cordani said that Choicelinx will operate as a separate and stand-alone unit of CIGNA HealthCare and will continue to be led by Donna Lencki, CEO and an original founder of Choicelinx. The company will also continue to provide its products and services directly to health care plans and third party administrators through a variety of existing distribution channels. Choicelinx customers will work with the same account teams they work with today.
“We at Choicelinx share a common vision with CIGNA HealthCare -- that health care consumers should have control and flexibility in selecting and using their health benefits,” said Lencki. “That’s why we are excited about joining CIGNA HealthCare and about using our combined resources to make consumer-focused benefits even more widely available to today’s consumers.”
About Choicelinx
Choicelinx Corporation is a benefits technology and services company specializing in a new generation of Web-based and consumer-focused benefits products for the health insurance industry. Choicelinx products improve health plan operations and achieve efficiencies through seamless automation of data collection and transmission. The Company’s technology was recognized recently at the Consumer Directed Health Care Conference in the “Best Example of Technology Facilitating Consumer Directed Health Care” award category. Choicelinx Corporation is headquartered in Manchester, New Hampshire. To learn more about the Choicelinx solution, visit the company on the web at http://www.choicelinx.com.
About CIGNA HealthCare
CIGNA HealthCare, headquartered in Bloomfield, CT, provides medical benefit plans, dental coverage, behavioral health coverage, pharmacy benefits, and products and services that integrate and analyze information to support consumerism and health advocacy. “CIGNA HealthCare” refers to various operating subsidiaries of CIGNA Corporation . Products and services are provided by these operating subsidiaries and not by CIGNA Corporation.
CIGNA HealthCare
CONTACT: Amy Turkington, CIGNA HealthCare, +1-860-226-3489,Amy.turkington@cigna.com, or Tracey Turner, Choicelinx, +1-603-314-6016,Tracey.turner@choicelinx.com
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