E-Bits: IPipeline, Principal, Assurant, National Life, Others

Principal introduced the features in mid-May. Since then, 800 participants have installed an iGoogle home page gadget, and 1,500 have signed up to receive updates in the form of text or e-mail messages, the company reports.

- Assurant Employee Benefits, Kansas City, Mo., a unit of Assurant Inc., New York, has developed an electronic tool that producers and others can use to help consumers understand the effects of the company’s new Preventive Max Waiver option.

Consumers who enroll in the company’s Family Share Max dental plan can use the waiver to exclude preventive dental services from their annual benefit maximum.

The new tool can compare stand-alone Family Share Max coverage or Family Share Max coverage with the Preventive Max Waiver option to a dental plan with a rollover option or one with individual maximums, Assurant says.

- CIGNA Corp., Philadelphia, has set up a paperless, “e-onboarding” system for dentists who want to join its dental provider networks.

The system includes an electronic signature system and a system that dentists can use to submit information such as documentation of education and licensure.

CIGNA is starting out by offering the tool to dentists who want to join its preferred provider organization plan network. The company hopes to make the tool available to dentists who want to join its health maintenance organization plan network in the fall.

CIGNA can process the typical electronic dental provider application in about 24 hours, down from an average of about 4 business days for conventional applications.

- National Life Group, a unit of NLV Financial Corp., Montpelier, Vt., has updated its consumer retirement website, at http://www.experienceretirement.com/