Time Examines Massachusetts-Based e-Benefits Procurement Company
Time this week profiles Waltham, Mass.-based IE-Engine, an online provider of health care procurement services for employers. The company, which has already attracted several big-name customers, acts as a link between insurance providers and employers looking to save on health care costs, Time reports. The year-old IE-Engine, which contracts with such large employers as Dow Chemical, Ford and Owens Corning, has carved out a niche in the $600 billion U.S. health care and employee benefits market -- one normally occupied by a "chummy" group of providers, brokers and consultants, according to Time. Company leaders attribute the firm's advantage to its sole focus on employee benefits. IE-Engine clients customize an online questionnaire with specific health care questions that they can weight differently to distinguish among insurers' bids. Clients direct insurers to the questionnaire, and IE-Engine compiles the bids and completes a comparative analysis for the health care purchaser. IE-Engine services are intended to reduce employers' administrative costs associated with selecting health care benefits. For example, company leaders say the service will eliminate the need to contract with independent consultants to evaluate insurers' bids -- a savings of as much as $45,000 annually. IE-Engine engagements range in cost from $200,000 to $700,000 (Tsianter, Time, 12/9).
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