MVP Health Care Goes Live with ikaSystems Sales/Broker Portal

Rapid Implementation of Web-Based "Quote to Card" Technology Makes
It Easier and Faster for Brokers to Sell MVP Insurance Products
SOUTHBOROUGH, Mass.--(Business Wire)--
In partnership with ikaSystems, MVP Health Care, a regional,
not-for-profit health insurer headquartered in Schenectady, New York,
has gone live with the first phase of its large-scale Web-based portal
implementation. Designed to give sales staff, brokers, employers and
members "quote to card" functionality on the Web, ikaSystems
Sales/Broker Portal makes it easier and faster for more brokers to
sell MVP's small-group commercial products, reducing the insurer's
administrative costs while enhancing its market competitiveness.

"MVP Health Care is moving aggressively to expand our market share
through new and unique distribution channels, which requires an
entirely different portal strategy than we've had in the past," said
Dave Henderson, MVP's executive vice president of marketing and chief
marketing officer. "ikaSystems has been an ideal partner in this
venture, as the company not only offers us the best technology
currently on the market but also the business expertise and
collaborative approach that quickly transform the technology from good
idea to practical solution. We completed our system requirements at
the end of May and had a fully functional portal on October 1, just
four short months later. The very first week we were live, brokers
generated 175 'instant quotes' online."

ikaSystems' Sales/Broker Portal automates all steps in the sales
process, from prospecting through quoting, underwriting, enrollment
and ID card generation, minimizing internal administrative efforts and
cost while speeding the time from lead to close. Sales staff and
brokers can get an immediate quote for their business prospects and
clients, quickly tailor and fine-tune plans and programs to fit
specific needs, and easily illustrate the differences between multiple
plan options -- all with a few clicks of a mouse. In addition, a
significant portion of employer groups can be automatically rated,
leaving the complicated cases for the underwriters. A process that
would have taken days, even weeks of paper-based iterations can now be
completed in real time online, and sales management can carefully
track and monitor all activities and gain better insights than ever
before.

"The ikaSystems implementation involved interfacing with several
of our internal technical, Web and security teams, as well as with
several vendors and consultants all working on separate projects
related to the ikaSystems implementation," explained chief information
officer Jack VanGraafeiland. "The ikaSystems team seamlessly
integrated with these teams and their projects, really stepping up to
facilitate the project and keep it organized and on track. We
implemented a quote-to-card project along with single-sign-on, a Web
upgrade project and a FACETS claims system upgrade -- all on the same
weekend. I don't know of any other company besides ikaSystems that
could pull off a project of that kind of complexity in such a short
time span."

Lou Pietrocarlo, MVP's project manager, added, "The ikaSystems
team fit right in with all of our project management methodologies and
procedures. They worked alongside us every step of the way and were
partners in the true sense of the word. When we ran into roadblocks,
ikaSystems dug in and found a way to keep us moving toward success. I
have never felt this level of support and commitment from any other
vendor."

The small group new business portal is the first step in a
multi-year project scheduled for completion in the first quarter of
2010. The ultimate goal is to create an online presence, similar to
Amazon.com, that leverages member/user information to create
additional, customized sales opportunities, either for MVP products
and services or for those offered through a diverse group of
affiliated partners, such as life insurance companies, banks and law
firms. MVP expects the project to achieve a 4-to-1 return on
investment in four years.

"Complex business processes and systems are common in the health
insurance industry, and MVP is no exception," Matt Manella, MVP's
project sponsor, summed up. "Based on the recent delivery of our new
sales and underwriting automation functionality, ikaSystems has proven
it can deliver highly configurable functionality that can be
customized to a defined set of workflows. The company has also been
highly flexible in demonstrating its ability to integrate Web-based
functionality with our overall internal systems."

According to Ravi Ika, president of ikaSystems, "In the health
insurance market, MVP is a true visionary in its desire to apply
techniques used successfully in other industries and use technology to
draw more precise yet comprehensive connections between its customers
and the products and services they need. Making it easier for sales
staff and brokers to perform their roles efficiently and effectively
is an exciting first step in this process. ikaPortals, which push
transactions outside the health plan to sales/brokers, providers,
employers and members, are an ideal solution for health plans looking
to grow while keeping administrative costs low -- we have seen our
clients decrease administrative costs by as much as 40 percent with
this approach. At the same time, they gain flexible, modular
technology that allows them to collect more accurate and thorough
information as well as disseminate this information more fluidly and
transparently between all healthcare stakeholders, decreasing costs as
well as improving the quality of care."

To watch a video about MVP's "instant quote" capabilities for
small groups, please see
http://www.mvphealthcare.com/broker/small_quote_demo/index.html.

About MVP Health Care

MVP is a family of companies offering a range of health benefit
plans and options combined with leading-edge wellness programs that
reduce health risks and control health care costs. The company has
more than 700,000 members in New York state, Vermont and New
Hampshire. MVP offers fully insured and self-funded employer health
benefit plans, dental insurance and ancillary products, such as
flexible spending accounts. For more information, see
www.mvphealthcare.com/press.

About ikaSystems Corp.

ikaSystems is healthcare payers' premier provider of Web-based ERP
technology for process automation and intelligence management.
ikaEnterprise, the company's flagship product, automates all key
processes in the payer business cycle, supporting commercial, Medicare
and Medicaid lines of business. The system consists of five
stand-alone, self-service Web portals for sales/broker,
administrative, employer, member and provider use, each of which are
tightly integrated with business intelligence and transactional
systems for core claims adjudication, care management and proactive
quality measurement and reporting. Using our agile, modular
technology, organizations can move quickly to lower administrative and
medical care expenses through greater automation and highly
intelligent decision-making. To learn more, please visit
www.ikasystems.com.

ikaSystems Corp.
Sandy Cummings, 774-760-1694
Vice President, Marketing
scummings@ikasystems.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008