Seattle, Washington–April 2, 2007–Sesame Communications, the innovator in online communications for the dental market, has introduced a new feature that keeps benefits from expiring unused. Patients frequently forget deadlines for their health insurance benefits and flexible spending account (FSA) funds. Now they are automatically reminded in advance of each deadline by Sesame's email system, allowing them to tap into funds they would otherwise have forfeited. The benefit alerts remind patients which specific treatments their doctor has recommended.
Flexible spending accounts allow employees to set aside pre-tax income to pay for medical expenses. Dental work is one of the most common uses of FSA money, according to Bankrate.com, the web’s leading aggregator of financial rate information. But FSAs, like dental insurance, are “use ’em or lose ’em.”
CEO Frith Maier explains the inspiration for Sesame’s new benefits capture feature: “In a typical practice, $100k a year gets left on the table because benefits go unused. We’re helping patients collect what they’re entitled to, and we’re helping doctors maximize production by matching unexecuted treatment plans with the benefits that will pay for those treatments.”
The new alert system is included in Sesame Membership and automatically available to all users of Dental Sesame. The feature is opt-in for patients, affording them yet another way to customize their online experience with their dentist.