TELUS Health Solutions has been selected by The Great-West Life Assurance Company for the development and implementation of an e-Claims exchange service for extended healthcare providers. The initial service will be introduced in 2010 for select providers such as physiotherapists, chiropractors and visioncare providers. Over time, it is expected that this will be broadened to include the wider range of providers which provide services covered by group benefit plans.

Today, many people enjoy the convenience of the electronic point-of-sale claim service available for dental and drug services. This level of convenience has not been available for other extended healthcare benefits.

"We are pleased to be able to work with TELUS Health Solutions to bring this important new service to our customers and their employees," said Mike Schwartz, senior vice-president of Group Benefits at Great-West Life. "For the first time, the extended healthcare provider community will be able to submit electronic payment reimbursement requests directly to us right at their point of service, offering significantly increased convenience and flexibility for plan members."

The e-Claims exchange service will be the first of its kind in Canada. While Great-West Life is the first insurance company to collaborate with TELUS on this initiative and has played a key role in supporting its development, the e-Claims solution will be made widely available to other benefit insurers, and over time, to a wide range of healthcare providers. This will enable the extended health provider community to streamline the claims and reimbursement process for their services on behalf of patients. Using their own patient/practice management system or through a portal within a website created and managed by TELUS Health Solutions, providers will be able to submit electronic claims quickly and efficiently allowing them to better manage their billing and receivables activities, trim down the paperwork involved in manual preparation and submission of receipts or insurance forms, reduce costs and give them more time to take care of their patients.

"The eClaims solution is a key expansion of our claims exchange portfolio, which will bring to the healthcare community a complete suite of services, supporting the seamless capture and routing of electronic claims from health professionals to insurance companies," said Marc Filion, chief operating officer and general manager of TELUS Health Solutions. "At TELUS, we’re delighted to be a part of this industry first with Great-West Life. As Canada’s largest healthcare claims transaction processor, we are constantly looking for new ways to equip our insurance customers with tools that will allow them to support employers and plan members in their journey to manage health proactively, conveniently and efficiently. "

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