TZIX Trizetto Grp. (MM)

The TriZetto Group Inc. (NASDAQ: TZIX) today announced the availability of the TriZetto Member Benefit Profile� and TriZetto Treatment Cost Navigator� to healthcare payers. In addition to these new solutions, TriZetto�s Benefit Cost Modeler is now available with significant enhancements. These three consumer-facing Web solutions enable plan members to make better healthcare decisions by providing real-time, personalized transparency capabilities for benefit decisions, treatment options and related costs, and health benefit usage. These new consumer tools expand TriZetto�s constituent solutions and help power Integrated Healthcare Management, the company�s unique approach to improving the coordination of benefits and care for healthcare consumers. By providing the most accurate benefit and cost information to consumers, payers can more effectively engage members, improve satisfaction and support intelligent decision-making. The increased financial responsibility facing consumers is driving the healthcare industry toward a more retail environment, where consumers have ready access to accurate and timely information and easy-to-use tools that enable informed purchasing and utilization decisions. TriZetto�s consumer tools enable payers to deliver the information necessary to meet these consumer needs and allow them to actively engage in today�s consumer-centric retail healthcare market. �Previous member-facing payer solutions were generally fragmented and lacked personalization,� said Jeff Cohen, senior director of consumer solutions at TriZetto. �We believe that providing the most accurate cost information that is relevant to a member�s benefits will increase member adoption and improve the overall satisfaction with online tools.� TriZetto�s new capabilities enable payers to address consumer needs throughout their entire healthcare experience: from plan evaluation and enrollment, to managing health and benefits, to evaluating care options, to accessing care, and finally to tracking healthcare and benefit usage. -- Benefit Cost Modeler is a decision-support tool that provides the most accurate annual out-of-pocket cost estimates for members and their families. Benefit Cost Modeler is used primarily during the enrollment process to calculate the dollar amount that the member can expect to pay for healthcare in the year ahead. This is based on the benefits of each of the member�s health plan alternatives and on the member's projected utilization of services. Significant new enhancements include the ability for members to use the prior year's claims to help model costs as well the ability to examine potential tax savings associated with tax-favored health savings accounts. -- Treatment Cost Navigator delivers accurate, real-time and personalized treatment cost information to consumers pre-care. Unlike other treatment cost estimation tools that display a wide range of costs using averages and require understanding of complex treatments, Treatment Cost Navigator uses simple terminology and provides the most accurate cost calculation based on the member�s actual benefits. Because the solution utilizes adjudication logic in the core administrative system and relevant utilization management criteria to generate results, it provides a complete view of actual member out of pocket costs -- not just the provider charge. � TriZetto�s Treatment Cost Navigator, when combined with the real-time patient liability and point-of-service claims adjudication capabilities of Provider POS Direct�, offers payers the only integrated approach to both provider and consumer cost transparency. Using a common technology and architecture, these solutions provide consistent and personalized information to both consumers and providers. As a result, consumers seeking accurate out of pocket costs for treatments prior to care will see the same calculated charges for services at the provider's office. -- Member Benefit Profile provides members an easy-to-read, well-organized and comprehensive view of their own healthcare utilization and benefits usage. This personalized benefit profile provides access to retrospective information about claims transactions, fund balances and transaction history across multiple member accounts. Members can receive statement notifications via e-mail, thereby streamlining communications, simplifying health and benefit information, and ultimately saving health plans the costs to produce and mail traditional explanation of benefits (EOBs). TriZetto�s consumer tools are designed to eliminate complexity by delivering a consumer-friendly, highly personalized view of health benefits information. All three solutions are fully integrated with TriZetto core solutions, however, are architected so that they may also be deployed on other payer administrative systems. Through seamless integration with the payer�s core administration system, personalized information is delivered real-time through the customized and easy-to-use Web-based interface. �As individuals begin to proactively manage their own healthcare information, the impersonal, summarized means of delivering information to consumers is no longer enough to adequately engage and empower consumers,� said Dan Spirek, chief solutions officer at TriZetto. �We believe that with the right tools, information and incentives in place, health plans will not only help consumers make better healthcare decisions but also those payers will have a competitive advantage in the market.� About TriZetto TriZetto is Powering Integrated Healthcare Management�. With its technology touching nearly half of the U.S. insured population, TriZetto is uniquely positioned to drive the convergence of health benefit administration, care management and constituent engagement. The company provides premier information technology solutions that enable payers and other constituents in the healthcare supply chain to improve the coordination of benefits and care for healthcare consumers. Healthcare payers include national and regional health insurance plans, and benefits administrators that provide transaction services to self-insured employer groups. The company�s payer-focused information technology offerings include enterprise and component software, hosting and business process outsourcing services, and consulting. Headquartered in Newport Beach, Calif., TriZetto can be reached at 949-719-2200 or at www.trizetto.com.