Picwell

Picwell developed a predictive recommendation engine designed to help consumers select health insurance plans. The system organizes and analyzes more than 900,000 variables that affect plan selection and narrows them to the top plans for each individual, using proprietary algorithms, large-scale data, machine learning and behavioral economics. Its technology powered employers, brokers, carriers, healthcare exchanges and benefits providers.

Picwell exposes its capabilities through a Commercial API used by client organizations, covering household creation, plan retrieval, health and ancillary/voluntary plan recommendations, supplemental plan recommendations, HSA recommendations and forecasts, drug search by name or NDC, premium and eligibility determination, client surveys, and a "People Like You" comparison feature. The API is versioned (currently version 6) and is operated across separate User Acceptance Testing and Production environments at uat-api.picwell.net and api.picwell.net, with API key authentication, rate limiting and encryption of data in transit and at rest. Documentation also references benefit administration via Picwell DX and SSO through OpenID Connect as unreleased functionality.

Following the 2022 acquisition by Jellyvision, the picwell.com domain presents ALEX, a benefits platform that combines decision support, enrollment, benefits administration and year-round guidance, including onboarding/offboarding, open enrollment, benefits communication, and Medicare and retirement support.

Business model

Picwell sells its recommendation technology to organizations in the health insurance and benefits ecosystem — employers, brokers, carriers, healthcare exchanges and benefits providers — which embed it via a commercial API under client credentials and contracted access to testing and production environments.

Traction

Clients using the technology reported increased support center productivity, reduced customer acquisition costs and improved customer retention, and the recommendation engine was described as providing the average consumer with savings equivalent to one paycheck per year. On the ALEX platform, 52% of employees are reported to better understand their benefits, and ALEX users are reported to save 47% more in HSAs than the national average.

Latest developments

Picwell was acquired by Jellyvision in 2022. The picwell.com site now markets ALEX, which has added benefits administration alongside decision support and enrollment in ALEX Home. Picwell's Commercial API remains documented, with version 6 as the latest and benefit administration via Picwell DX listed as unreleased.