Texas Business reports: Plano—The Massachusetts Health Connector Authority (Health Connector) and Dell Services negotiated a two-year extension of an agreement through which the healthcare technology solutions provider will deliver a range of enrollment, billing, website and customer experience services.

The agreement spans across the Health Connector program, with a large percentage of work focused on “Commonwealth Care” (the low or no-cost health insurance option for qualifying residents to receive comprehensive benefits and a choice of health plans).

The Health Connector, which was one of the nation’s first health insurance exchanges, was established to provide all Massachusetts residents with easy access to affordable insurance coverage.

Dell provides maintenance and development services for the Health Connector’s primary web portal, which directs current and future enrollees to the plan options.

 Enrollment mistakes can be costly for the individual, the Health Connector and the provider. To help ease the online enrollment process, Dell operates a multilingual call center to assist residents who qualify for Commonwealth Care in identifying and enrolling in the insurance plan that best meets their needs, while also helping to ensure they understand how best to take advantage of their newly-provided healthcare coverage.

To help facilitate residents’ various communication needs, Dell oversees all phone, web and postal mail interactions. Once a resident has enrolled in a plan, Dell provides them with tools to send inquiries and receive responses online or by phone, according to their individual preferences.

Since the initial agreement was signed in 2008, Dell has continued to expand. For example, in 2009, Dell began delivering billing services through proprietary Xcelyssoftware solution. Through Xcelys, Dell can deliver an enhanced billing solution that enables Health Connector to reduce billing and back office costs, while providing added convenience features for enrollees such as the option of paying via electronic funds transfer (EFT). Dell has also worked with the Health Connector to expand and scale its services to meet increases in demand as residents are transferred from other state-managed healthcare programs to the Health Connector program.

Additionally, by overseeing the customer experience and maintaining a central, secure repository of information, Dell helps the Health Connector analyze enrollment and customer interaction data.

The Massachusetts Health Connector is an independent state authority that helps residents find insurance coverage. Of the 400,000 Massachusetts residents newly insured since enactment of the state's landmark reform legislation in 2006, more than one-half receive their coverage through the Connector.

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