CONNEXTIONS HEALTH HIRES SEASONED SALES MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONAL AND WINS FOUR NEW CLIENT ENGAGEMENTS, AS RAPID GROWTH OF TELEPHONE and WEBBASED HEALTHCARE INSURANCE DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL CONTINUES
Company Provides Insurance Plans with CostEffective Alternative To Traditional Feetonthe Street Agency Relationships
ORLANDO, FL – December 11, 2006 – Connextions Health continued to reinforce its leadership role in health insurance sales with the appointment of industry veteran Kyal Moody, who will oversee the company’s inhouse growing sales force of licensed "teleagents" selling policies by phone and online on behalf of several wellknown health insurance plans.
Over the past few months alone, Connextions Health has added four new health insurance carriers to its client list, which includes UnitedHealth Group’s Ovations unit and BlueCross / BlueShield of Florida. Two of the four newly acquired health insurance clients include Providence Health Plans, of Oregon, and Capital BlueCross, of Pennsylvania.
Prior to joining Connextions Health, Kyal Moody served as Vice President of Telesales for Secure Horizons (a division of UnitedHealth Group), where he was instrumental in developing that company’s Member Education and Member Retention programs, which have both received widespread industry recognition. Over his 16 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Kyal has worked closely with franchise health plans throughout the nation, developing operations and sales infrastructure as a senior consultant for PacifiCare’s Secure Horizons USA.
In announcing Moody’s appointment to the newly created position, Connextions Health President Rob Panepinto said, "Kyal’s experience better enables us to help our health plan clients to drive revenue through new member acquisition, both in the individual and small group markets."
Panepinto noted that teleagents – using phone, webchat, streaming video and cobrowsing (to assist with completion of online applications and forms) – are a highly effective and cost efficient means to sell health insurance directly to consumers. Additionally, teleagents help to maintain member loyalty and improve retention. Panepinto predicted, "Over the next decade, the industrywide number of tele agents will rise dramatically, as more health plans understand the strategic advantages of this distribution channel, compared with tradition 'feetonthestreet' insurance agents."
Just four years ago, Connextions Health hired its first teleagents to support the needs of Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Florida. Today, the company employs teleagents who are crosslicensed to conduct business in all 50 states, representing several wellknown health insurance plans. Within this group, most agents were trained and licensed through Connextions' own College of Insurance, which provides an intensive 5week training program, preparation for required state licensing tests, and ongoing sales management support.
Since January 2006, Connextions Health has answered 377,000 health insurance calls, generated more than three quarters of a million outbound insurance inquiries, and directly enrolled more than 30,000 members in health care plans. In addition, the company has scheduled more than 100,000 client and community meetings on behalf of its clients.
About Connextions Health:
Connextions Health is widely regarded as a thought leader and pioneer in the emerging field of consumerdirected health care. Connextions Health combines proven customer interaction disciplines with leading clinical and decisionsupport technologies to provide healthcare organizations with seamless, endtoend solutions — from initial sales through member service and clinical care -- to help build revenue and strengthen longterm customer relationships. Additional information can be found at www.connextionshealth.com.
