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More leverage in choosing the best healthcare program for employees . ConnectYourCare, the carrier-independent Consumer Directed Healthcare (CDH) portal, and Armada Consulting Group, a mid-Atlantic professional consulting firm specializing in healthcare, have partnered to give more options to small and mid-sized employers who want to offer CDH.

Baltimore, MD (PRWEB) September 7, 2005 -- ConnectYourCare, the carrier-independent Consumer Directed Healthcare (CDH) portal, and Armada Consulting Group, a mid-Atlantic professional consulting firm specializing in healthcare, have partnered to give more options to small and mid-sized employers who want to offer CDH.

Small to mid-sized companies often have little leverage when negotiating group HMO and PPO plans with health insurers. As a result, many employers in this category are considering CDH as an effective way to offer more options to employees and bring down premiums.

“We feel this market is greatly underserved and in need of high-end consulting that historically has not been available to employers of this size,” said Armada Managing Partner Keith Sullivan. “Accordingly, we will be introducing our clients to solutions such as ConnectYourCare, which provide great value and the flexibility to change insurance products over time, without changing the employee’s interface. We also like the fact that ConnectYourCare has a risk-averse strategy for moving clients to CDH at their own pace.”

Leveraging CDH expertise from Armada Consulting Group, employers will be able to manage the rollout of CDH using ConnectYourCare as their employee platform, portal and education tool. Features of the ConnectYourCare platform include: leading edge HSA, HRA, and FSA account management using ConnectYourCare’s smart debit card, benefits enrollment capability, a paperless claims-submission process, a medical encyclopedia, guidance on chronic conditions, wellness incentives, an integrated online drugstore, advocacy services, Internet access to employee account balances, and claims payment status reporting.

Armada offers clients with 200-5000 employees a proprietary methodology called Armada Health Pathwayssm, used to efficiently guide clients through the health plan service continuum, including plan design, financing, implementation, employee communication, and detailed plan analysis. This level of sophisticated consultation was traditionally only available to large companies.

"We see eye-to-eye with the Armada Consulting Group about where healthcare in the U.S. is heading,” Jamie Spriggs, COO and President of ConnectYourCare. “They share our vision that the economics of healthcare will improve only with consumer driven initiatives and, therefore, the adoption of CDH clearly taking hold in the middle market."

About ConnectYourCare
ConnectYourCare's (http://www.connectyourcare.com) benefit delivery platform provides a pathway for employers to migrate to Consumer-Directed Healthcare, supplying tools for employees to better manage their healthcare choices and a vehicle for employers to realize healthcare cost containment. ConnectYourCare works in conjunction with an employer's consultant/broker in mid- to large-market organizations. ConnectYourCare is not an insurance company and does not market insurance products. Its services platform is carrier neutral, so when an employer changes carriers, or wants to use multi-carrier health plans, its HSA, HRA and FSA administration, CDH education and wellness solutions, stay consistent across their organization. For more information please send an email to e-mail protected from spam bots or call 1-877-495-3341.

About Armada Consulting Group
Armada Consulting Group is a professional services firm delivering a full range of integrated services to help mid-market companies think and act strategically about their employee health benefits. Through a proprietary consultative system, Armada Health Pathwayssm, Armada Consulting Group focuses on aligning each client’s employee health plan goals with their company’s human resource and financial objectives. The overarching goal is to create a high performance solution that maximizes the quality of the plan offering while minimizing company costs. Armada teams with its clients to develop and implement a comprehensive, long-term strategic plan to effectively manage employee benefit costs, monitor plan performance, and enhance communications to participants to facilitate their acceptance and understanding of the programs’ structure and goals.

Contact:
ConnectYourCare
Anne Steinberg or Greg Jones
212-687-8999

Armada Consulting Group
Barbara Brotman Kaylor
410.342.7500 x223

This press release was distributed through eMediawire by Human Resources Marketer (HR Marketer: www.HRmarketer.com) on behalf of the company listed above.

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Source :  http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/9/prweb281583.htm