BENEFITFOCUS UNVEILS OPEN PLATFORM AT ONE PLACE EVENT

CHARLESTON, S.C., May 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Benefitfocus, the industry leader in healthcare and benefits technology, today announced that it has opened the BENEFITFOCUS® Platform to select third party developers. Benefitfocus announced the availability of the Benefitfocus API, ad hoc reporting and third party apps at this morning's keynote address at One Place, the company's premier event for its employer clients, insurance carrier clients and technology partners.

The keynote address was delivered by Benefitfocus President and CEO Shawn Jenkins, who described the company's evolving strategy: from self-service, to managing all benefits in one place, to the current open Platform. The keynote featured a live demonstration of the Maryland Health Care Commission's new VIRTUAL COMPARE plan comparison portal, as well as iPad and Android demonstrations of new mobile shopping and enrollment tools. More than 800 attendees gathered at the historic Charleston Music Hall to hear Jenkins and guest speakers from Allstate, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, EMC, Microsoft and PayChoice.

"Companies that develop a core platform with a cloud-based infrastructure and then provide development tools for others to extend it are the companies that are seeing hyper growth," said Jenkins. "That statement has really come to define our open Platform strategy. Benefitfocus is the industry leader in benefits shopping, enrollment, management and data exchange. By investing in the extensibility of our technology, we can provide our customers access to the best voluntary benefits, wellness tools and financial planning resources, to name just a few."

Today's announcement focused on three key examples of the open Platform: the Benefitfocus API, ad hoc reporting and Benefitfocus Apps. The Benefitfocus API allows others to plug in to Benefitfocus' industry leading technology. The API is in use by some of the benefits industry's largest companies, including Aetna and NASCO.

With ad hoc reporting, HR Administrators can now create their own custom reports, modify pre-built reports, and schedule and email reports to colleagues. Ad hoc reporting will be available to all Benefitfocus employer customers later this year.

Today's keynote marked the official launch of several Benefitfocus Apps. "The availability of apps on the Platform extends the value of Benefitfocus technology for employers and consumers alike," said Don Taylor, Chief Technology Officer for Benefitfocus. "It is exciting to see new types of apps available. Apps allow third parties to leverage their existing technology investments and tightly integrate their applications with our Platform."

Examples of third party apps currently available on the Benefitfocus Platform include:

• Allstate Benefits App: Offers a comprehensive portfolio of Allstate benefits through the Benefitfocus Platform as part of the core enrollment process, providing employees with an online marketplace for voluntary benefits. Created by Allstate.

• Data Analytics App: Consolidates claims analysis, data warehousing, financial analysis, trending and forecasting to deliver a complete package of health plan analysis tools. Created by Benefit Informatics, a Benefitfocus company.

• Discovery Benefits App: Integrates enrollment for flexible spending accounts, health reimbursement accounts, health savings accounts, COBRA and transportation benefits. Created by Discovery Benefits.

• Financial Wellness App: Provides a financial planning content library with free employee tools like budget calculators, spending guidelines and videos. Created by Consolidated Credit Counseling Services.

• Just InTime Wellness App: Delivers personalized, timely messages to employees about their health. Health alerts are based on each employee's unique health profile and focus on the relevant issues pertaining to each person. Created by SCIOinspire.

• PayChoice App: Simplifies benefits and payroll administration by integrating the Benefitfocus Platform with PayChoice's SaaS payroll processing technology. Eliminates data entry in multiple systems and ensures that correct withholdings and deductions are processed for employees. Created by PayChoice.

With Benefitfocus Apps, participating companies combine their products, software, content and tools with the Benefitfocus Platform. "Benefitfocus is the platform standard for benefits shopping, enrollment and administration," explained Robert Digby, CEO of PayChoice. "Combining our offerings closes the loop between benefits selection and employee paychecks for employers and insurance carriers." Contact Benefitfocus for more information about Benefitfocus Apps.

About Benefitfocus

Benefitfocus is the largest healthcare and voluntary benefits software provider in the U.S. with 13,149,087 consumers, 303,761 employers, 60,178 brokers and 3,255 carrier representatives live on the Benefitfocus Platform. Benefitfocus offers a single Web-based platform for benefit shopping, enrollment, management and industry-standard data exchange. Benefitfocus – All Your Benefits. One Place. www.benefitfocus.com

Benefitfocus.com, Inc.
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SOURCE Benefitfocus