IdeaStar’s Insurance Technologies team was engaged by America’s Health Care/Rx Plan Agency, Inc. (AHCP) to build and deploy Web-enabled paperless quote-through-issue processing combined with an online agent management system.

The site must provide sufficient information to the visitor to create interest in the company’s product offerings while directing the prospective client to a local insurance agent who is a member of the Ameri-Choice agent network. In order to make a preemptive move into the very dynamic and cost-conscious health insurance marketplace, the system needed to be operational within at least six months of the first design specification meeting. In order to meet the company’s own self-imposed development timeline, management needed to find a technical partner well-versed in the complexities of the highly regulated health insurance industry, including underwriting, rating, quoting, and Web-enabling PPO directories.

Information on the available plans is displayed for the consumer. Enrollment processes take place from the agent's password protected login page. The agent component is designed to provide valuable customer support during the complicated application process. This improves efficiency and assures that the customer receives coverage as fast as possible.

Once client information is entered into the system, IdeaStar's quote engine generates three options with the "Recommended Plan" displayed first. The technology driving the system produces results in a matter of split seconds.

Additional Web-based functionality includes:

• Individual major medical and guaranteed issue product quotes with choices on riders and plan specifications, including cross-selling/up-selling aspects
• Integration with carrier back-end systems for underwriting and policy issue
• Online policy maintenance, client-centric screens
• Compliant with state DOI forms and processes
• Agent enrollment and portal systems, commission tracking to be developed
• Dynamic content editing is installed on designated pages to facilitate client updates to plan information and benefit details

IdeaStar’s development team brought to this project a depth of experience in Web-enabling health insurance processes unique in the IT world. As a result, the AHCP site and supporting systems were online and operational within eighteen weeks. Only forty-eight hours after launch, the first application was processed. In addition:

• Only 14% of total effort was project management
• Total IdeaStar development costs were well within budget 
• Ameri-Choice produced significant premium revenues within months, and continues to do so. 

“Applying for health insurance is a complex and often tedious process,” notes Mike Owens, Vice President of AHCP. “Agent involvement is essential, which is why this is not entirely a b2c site. There is no way a technical partner other than IdeaStar could have written this system in the time frame we required. IdeaStar has the understanding and experience in our industry that made it possible to exceed even our aggressive deadline. We couldn’t be more pleased."