2. 考研
  3. The RealBenefits Company Seek Capital Favor About one-third of Americans who quality for public assistance haven’t signed up

The RealBenefits Company Seek Capital Favor About one-third of Americans who quality for public assistance haven’t signed up

admin2013-04-03  46
问题                 The RealBenefits Company Seek Capital Favor
    About one-third of Americans who quality for public assistance haven’t signed up. That amounts to millions of people needlessly going without food stamps, low-income housing or health insurance.
    This trouble is what RealBenef its, a Boston-hasd software start-up, was created to solve. The five-person firm’s Web databae substitutes easy-to-use screening and enrollment tools for complicated government paperwork. So far RealBenefits has connected nearly 100,000 families to more than $371 million in government aid since 2000.
    Yet along with this success, Real-Benefits, which began life as a nonprofit, faced the same dilemma that many social enterprises do: how to scale up without selling out. "No software firm is going to attract donors easily, even a nonprofit," says Sharon Oster, dean of the Yale School of Management and an expert on social entrepreneurship.
    "And to grow, you need access to equity capital."
    So in 2006 , RealBenefits went commercial. Still tucked under the umbrella of founder Community Catalyst, the sales staff began slowly refocusing its energy on paying customers like hospital chains, governments and school districts rather than the community organizations and nonprofits that had previously peppered its client list. A subscription-based service, RealBenefits charges a fee that ranges from $ 10,000 for, say, a homeless-services group to six figures on the high end. "Our model was to find large healthcare providers whom be willing to pay because they were actually increasing reimbursements and minimizing uncompensated care by using our technology," says CEO Enrique Balaguer.
    At both ends, low-income families win. Whereas an uninsured patient going to the emergency room once faced a bill for thousands of dollars, now, using RealBenefits, hospital staff can screen him to see if he is qualified to file a claim with Medicaid. One Massachusetts hospital, Baystate Medical Center, reported a 50% increase in the number of Medicaid reimbursements it received in 2006 by using RealBenefits.
    Nonetheless, RealBenefits was still struggling to expand because of the difficulty of accessing capital. So the firm set out to find a buyer willing to continue its social mission. It eventually settled on TriHealix, a Connecticut-based health-care IT company.
    The June 2008 deal was worth $ 3 million to $4 million, Balaguer says.
    For RealBenefits, the transaction allowed it to tap into a larger sales and marketing force. The firm now aims to expand into at least 15 states over the next two to three years. "Our three core goals-to maximize benefits to families, effect policy change and to create additional capacity— remain in place," Balaguer says. "And being profitable is a major component of that." It’s a target that will most likely pay dividends to the whole community.
What is important for RealBenefits to realize its core goals according to Balaguer?
选项 A、A large sales and marketing force.
B、The expansion to more markets.
C、The ability to make profit.
D、Finding more paying clients.
答案C
解析 事实细节题。由题于中的core goals和Balaguer定位到最后一段。在讲到RealBenefits被收购之后的经营目标之后，Balaguer说：And being profitable is a majorcomponent of that(能够赚取利润是实现核心目标的重要组成部分)。故[C]与之相符，是正确答案。[A]是RealBenefits被收购的结果，排除；[B]是它未来两年的经营目标，[D]也是它未来的目标之一，归根到底都是为了实现[C]，故[B]、[D]均排除。
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/tBsRFFFM
0

考研英语一

相关试题推荐
随机试题
最新回复(0)