Armada Consulting Group and ConnectYourCare Deal Creates New Options for Small to Mid-Size Businesses Considering Consumer-Directed Healthcare

More leverage in choosing the best healthcare program for employees

Baltimore, Maryland (September 6, 2005) - Armada Consulting Group, a mid-Atlantic consulting firm specializing in strategic healthcare planning, has partnered with ConnectYourCare, a carrier-independent Consumer Directed Healthcare (CDH) portal, 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 innovative solutions 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.”

Armada offers clients 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. For clients seeking a CDH solution, Armada will help them manage the rollout of CDH over time 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.

"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."

Contact:
Barbara Brotman Kaylor
410.342.7500 x223
barbarabk@rooftopcommunications.com