PlanSource's Kepler Product Release Creates a Better Benefits Experience
New enhancements and upgrades will streamline the administration of employee benefits, including new tools for educating and engaging employees, ACA compliance and HR services
New enhancements and upgrades will streamline the administration of employee benefits, including new tools for educating and engaging employees, ACA compliance and HR services
ORLANDO, Fla., Sept. 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- PlanSource has launched a new product release, dubbed Kepler, filled with innovative features and enhancements to give consumers and employers a simpler, more efficient and more enjoyable benefits experience.
With dozens of features in the Kepler release, PlanSource enables employers to better comply with reporting requirements of the Affordable Care Act, deliver a streamlined consumer experience and save administrative time and resources.
"Like the Kepler satellite is giving us a greater understanding of the universe, the Kepler release is giving employers a greater understanding of how to administer their benefits," said Jamie P. Walker, Vice President of Product and Consumer Engagement at PlanSource. "It contains meaningful features that will give consumers better insight into their benefit options and help them make informed choices for their families' coverage."
Improved user experience and videos to demystify benefits selections
Benefits can be complicated, and many employees find the numerous choices of plans and the specialized terms used to describe them hard to understand. Considering that insurance and benefits typically are among a family's greatest expenses, PlanSource has made consumer education a top priority in the Kepler release.
The release includes a fully redesigned and expanded library of videos that explain commonly used industry terms in easily understandable language. The videos help consumers make informed choices and understand the importance of voluntary benefits such as short-term disability and accident insurance. The short, animated videos are seamlessly integrated into the software and can be personalized depending on a user's demographics, stage in life, family status and many other factors. Offered in English and Spanish, the videos are free and available for download on the PlanSource website.
"It is great to see that PlanSource continues to innovate and invest in its product," said Jackie Ward, Vice President of People Experience at Xero, a PlanSource customer since 2013. "These videos will really resonate with our employees. They grab your attention right away and keep you entertained while learning the ins and outs of benefits."
ACA reporting made simple
The Affordable Care Act includes numerous reporting requirements employers must comply with or risk being penalized. The Kepler release contains many new updates to simplify ACA compliance, including a feature that will let employers preview reports before they need to be formally submitted to the IRS. Another enhancement allows employees to download IRS form 1095-C instead of requiring employers to print the forms out, pack, and mail them to each employee.
"As a technology company, we go paperless whenever possible," said Jackie Ward. "Giving employees the ability to download these forms themselves means we can spend time on more productive tasks, and use even less paper."
Advanced HR services and EOI expiration capabilities ease administrative burden
Other features that have employers salivating are the addition of advanced HR support and evidence of insurability expiration (EOI) capabilities. Advanced HR support is an outsourcing service for HR teams that need help with time-consuming activities such as dependent and life event verification, evidence of insurability processing, claims assistance and employee communications.
Similarly, the EOI expiration feature simplifies a cumbersome administration process in which employers must carefully track and update EOI applications (you can watch a video explaining EOI here). The EOI expiration feature in Kepler removes this administrative burden by allowing benefits that are pending EOI to automatically expire after a designated time specified by HR teams.
Detailed information about Kepler and other upcoming product releases can be found on www.plansource.com/release.
About PlanSource
PlanSource provides the industry's most flexible and extensible health exchange and benefits engagement platform in the cloud. More than 8,000 employers and 3.5 million consumers use the PlanSource Platform for benefits shopping, enrollment, billing and ongoing administration. PlanSource partners with leading insurance carriers, brokers and government entities to provide both exchange and non-exchange solutions to companies of all sizes. PlanSource – One Source. Many Benefits. Learn more at www.plansource.com.
PlanSource is a registered trademark of PlanSource, Inc., and PlanSource owns other registered and unregistered trademarks. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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