HTMS, an Emdeon Company, Successfully Preps WINhealth to Compete on the Health Insurance Exchange Marketplace

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Jan. 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- HTMS, an Emdeon company, was selected by WINhealth to provide strategic planning, product design, operational preparation and implementation for health insurance products on the Wyoming Health Insurance Exchange (HIX). WINhealth is a not-for-profit managed care company that provides members with a choice of doctors, healthy living tools and affordable plans that demonstrate its strong commitment to delivering quality health care options to members.

Despite a bumpy start, Health Insurance Exchanges across the country are up and running, with previously uninsured or underinsured Americans now obtaining coverage through a competitive marketplace. A little over a year ago, WINhealth executives realized that participating in the HIX marketplace could dramatically alter the way their health plan serves members and providers and also realized that outside expertise would be necessary to plan and execute their strategy within tight deadlines. WINhealth called HTMS, an Emdeon company, known for its consulting proficiency and proven ability to help health plans execute market strategies. For WINhealth, competing on the HIX required a complete product and operational transformation to deliver a new, modernized product for the retail consumer market – a market segment that WINhealth had not previously served.

Throughout the past year, HTMS consultants advised WINhealth on competitive market analysis and sizing, product design, operational readiness, implementation and post-live transition. WINhealth plans went live in Wyoming on the Federally Facilitated Marketplace on October 1, 2013, and they have enjoyed a successful response.

"HTMS helped us develop our product offering with rich benefit choices at competitive prices that ultimately led to 50% growth in our membership base for these products starting January 1, 2014," said Stephen Goldstone, chief executive officer of WINhealth. "Selecting the right partner was critical for our success on the HIX and for us that partner was HTMS."

"The synergy we have experienced with WINhealth has been phenomenal," said Nancy Wise, vice president of strategic consulting for HTMS, an Emdeon company. "Our work together resulted in WINhealth entering a new, previously nonexistent market, with a well-defined strategy." Jonathan Leonard, senior consultant with HTMS, an Emdeon company, who led the HIX implementation effort, noted the agility of WINhealth. "It was exciting to work with an insurer that was prepared to make decisions quickly and correct course as needed. This agility contributed to WINhealth's tremendous success on the exchange," said Leonard.

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 and patients in the U.S. healthcare system. Emdeon's offerings integrate and automate key business and administrative functions of its payer and provider 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.