Liazon Selected as Preferred Private Exchange Partner by Equity Healthcare, LLC

BUFFALO, NY--(Marketwired - Jun 11, 2014) - Equity Healthcare, LLC, today announced that it has selected Liazon Corporation as its preferred national private benefits exchange partner for its 40+ affiliated companies. Liazon joins the leading healthcare related programs and services offered by Equity Healthcare to the companies of the global asset manager Blackstone, other private equity firms, and certain non-profit organizations. Liazon will make its industry-leading Bright Choices^® Exchange available to the employees and their families who are currently covered by Equity Healthcare and decide to pursue an exchange solution.

Equity Healthcare leverages the combined purchasing power of the portfolio companies of Blackstone's private equity group and other businesses to contract for services aimed at improving the quality of the benefits it offers, while driving down costs. Equity Healthcare will use the successful Bright Choices Exchange as a key part of its strategy to achieve those goals. 

"With our objectives around both quality health care and affordability, we thought it made sense to broaden our options for employers. Bright Choices is an innovative step toward meeting the goals of our member companies considering an exchange option," said Dr. Robert Galvin, the Chief Executive Officer of Equity Healthcare. "We looked at all of the available options for a private benefits exchange partner and Liazon clearly came out on top. Their marketplace offers the widest range of benefits and carriers so we can offer comprehensive, customized services in a self-insured platform to our diverse populations. Additionally, their technology is best suited to handle the load of our large and diverse set of employers and employees."

Liazon will create a Bright Choices Exchange specifically for Equity Healthcare participants featuring medical plans from Aetna and UnitedHealthcare and an extensive array of ancillary employee benefit plans. Employees will be given a defined amount of money, contributed by their employer, which they then use to shop online for a personalized portfolio of coverage and benefits to meet their individual needs. Advanced decision support, educational materials, and plan comparison tools help them make the right choices among coverage options. Bright Choices will allow participating Equity Healthcare companies the ability to gain control of their benefits costs year-over-year, while at the same time giving employees access to broad, high-quality coverage options.

Commenting on the new relationship, Liazon's co-founder and CEO, Ashok Subramanian said, "Our ability to deliver customized portfolios of coverage that meet individual employee needs and help to maximize the effectiveness of the benefit dollars spent will be a great fit for Equity Healthcare companies. We are looking forward to supporting the mutual objectives of these companies, their employees, and the private equity community in this endeavor."

About Liazon
Founded in 2007, Liazon Corporation operates the industry-leading private benefits exchange for businesses. Its flagship product, the Bright Choices® Exchange, is an online benefits store that is changing the way employers and employees buy benefits. Bright Choices helps employers manage their healthcare costs by setting predictable budgets through a defined contribution funding strategy while guiding employees to purchase better coverage of health, dental, vision, life, disability and other benefits. Advanced cloud computing infrastructure and robust security protection ensures continual access and safeguards confidentiality of data transmission. Liazon works with top national and regional insurance providers and supports businesses nationwide through a distribution network of leading broker partners. Liazon was acquired by Towers Watson in November, 2013. To learn more about Liazon and the Bright Choices Exchange, go to www.liazon.com.

About Equity Healthcare
Equity Healthcare was formed in 2008 by the Blackstone Group and works with private equity firms and their portfolio companies to bring innovative solutions to manage healthcare costs. Unlike traditional group purchasing organizations, EH focuses on the health of employees and their families and the quality of care they receive. EH has a several year track record of controlling healthcare costs while improving population health and has grown to nearly 300,000 members. Currently, 7 private equity firms and 43 portfolio companies participate, with annual health expenditures exceeding $1.5B making it one of the largest private sector purchasers of healthcare services in the US.