Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont Goes Live With the Coverage Example Calculator in VUE Benefit Summary Tool

COCONUT CREEK, Fla., Feb. 26, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- VUE Software^®, the leading provider of distribution and producer management solutions for the insurance industry, today announced that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont (BCBSVT) has gone live with the Coverage Example Calculator, an enhancement to VUE Benefit Summary Tool. The resulting efficiency increases save BCBSVT hours on each SBC.

A long-time VUE Software client and the largest health insurer in Vermont, BCBSVT provides coverage for approximately 180,000 individuals. BCBSVT began using VUE Benefit Summary Tool in 2008 with tremendous improvements in speed and accuracy. However, once the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) came into effect, the company lacked a way to quickly calculate payment amounts for the Coverage Examples page on SBCs. Manual efforts were extremely time consuming and labor intensive due to the elaborate calculations and complex algorithms involved.

By implementing the Coverage Example Calculator, BCBSVT was able to completely eliminate manual involvement in calculating payment amounts. Today, administrators simply generate an SBC and VUE Benefit Summary Tool does the rest. The system always draws from the most recent values, so if a plan changes, generating a new SBC results in accurately updated numbers. Eliminating manual involvement for calculations saves vast amounts of time and does away with copying errors — another source of savings in itself.

"The VUE Coverage Example Calculator enhancement allowed BCBSVT to meet the federal mandate timeline for accurately displaying coverage example calculations on SBCs while providing a flexible platform for future growth. The configuration options enable us to map calculations to changing benefits, audit the detailed calculation of any SBC output and add new conditions should they be mandated in the future," said Ellen Yakubik, chief marketing executive at BCBSVT. "Our custom and standard product SBCs can be generated efficiently to include accurate coverage example calculations without manual intervention, allowing our product managers more time to focus on customers. CSSI continues to be an important partner for BCBSVT, enabling us to achieve operational efficiencies in our company."

According to Abhinav Dave, executive vice president of VUE Software, "The PPACA's compressed timeline and strict requirements were problematic for organizations not large enough to build or obtain effective benefit summary systems and coverage calculation tools. For companies still struggling with manual or semi-automated processes, VUE Benefit Summary Tool is ideal. It eliminates the headaches of creating compliant SBCs, ensuring accurate calculations and organizing SBC production and delivery to drive long-term efficiencies."

A user-friendly, Web-based platform, VUE Benefit Summary Tool ensures compliance with all SBC format requirements, organizes SBC documents and makes them retrievable, streamlines the creation of new documents — particularly for annual renewals and updates — and encompasses full-scale benefit summary management. VUE Benefit Summary Tool comes with regular, free updates and enhancements that include essential features like the Coverage Example Calculator.

About Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont is the state's oldest and largest health insurer, providing coverage for about 180,000 Vermonters. It employs about 340 Vermonters at its headquarters in Berlin and branch office in South Burlington, and offers group and individual health plans. More information about Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont is available on the internet at www.bcbsvt.com. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont is an independent corporation operating under a license with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an association of the independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans.

Additional Resources

VUE Benefit Summary Tool Website

Learn about Distribution Modernization

About VUE Software^®

VUE Software is a leading provider of insurance distribution management, incentive compensation, and sales performance software solutions. Backed by over 23 years of insurance experience, VUE Software solutions are built for the insurance industry to meet the unique needs of the life, health, property and casualty, distribution and non-carrier verticals. VUE Software is a doing-business-as (DBA) name of Computer Solutions and Software International, LLC (CSSI). For more information about VUE Software, please call 1.877.488.3763.

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SOURCE VUE Software