SCHENECTADY, NY – MVP Health Care will roll out in October the small group and new business market phase of its large-scale sales and marketing portal implementation.

When the portal is completed by first quarter 2010, the regional health plan will be able to sell a full range of ancillary products and services, such as legal, life and disability, through a wider distribution channel akin to the retail model of Amazon.com, said Dave Henderson, executive vice president of marketing and chief marketing officer.

The portal tool will help MVP reduce distribution costs by eliminating manual processes, reduce administrative cost through sales, expand distribution channel beyond the 20 percent of brokers that sell 80 percent of its business into other avenues of selling its products, such as banks, associations and online, Henderson said.

“Technology will allow us to be where customers make their decisions and engage them at the right time,” he said, referring to the individual market.

The tool will help brokers manage a bigger share of their business and close deals more quickly, which would incentivize brokers to sell more of MVP’s products.

The tool will also level the playing field for the smaller broker agencies by giving them new functionalities and delivering greater competition to the marketplace, said Henderson.