Complete Guidelines to Health and Fitness: Empire Blue Cross Blue ...

Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield
announced today that it is collaborating with 19 other Blue Plans
nationwide to launch Blue Health Intelligence (BHI), a unique resource that
will help improve health care quality by providing the most detailed view
available of health care trends, best practices and comparative costs
through a claims database of 79 million people.

BHI, the premier health intelligence resource in the nation, will strengthen the movement toward greater health care transparency and informed decision-making by employers and, ultimately, providers and consumers.

A secure, HIPAA-compliant database, Blue Health Intelligence is significantly larger than existing health care databases. Access to the aggregate data -- containing no personal identifiers -- will be available to the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans currently participating in BHI.

"Our vision is for a health care system that is less complex and easier for consumers to navigate," said Larry C. Glasscock, chairman, president and chief executive officer of WellPoint, Inc., the parent company of Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield. "BHI will help transform the current health care system into a focused, knowledge-based system. Blue Health Intelligence is in direct response to employers and consumers who are interested in more precise information that is presented in a clear, understandable and useable way."

In the near term, BHI will support the efforts of employers to better manage the quality of benefits they offer their employees. In the future, BHI will provide consumers with greater access to information that will enable their ability to make informed health care decisions, and will heighten collaboration with providers as they deliver high-quality, evidence-based care to their patients.

Specifically, here are some examples of what BHI will ultimately provide:

-- information about the pros and cons of certain treatments. For example, a given medical condition could have more than one treatment option. In the long term, the database could provide consumers with information on the costs and outcomes of these options so they could have informed discussions with their physicians about which option is best for them.

-- data that would allow an employer to compare health care costs for its employees to national trends and costs for other employers in the same industry.

-- opportunities for health services research. With such a large database, BHI will be able to better track costs and outcomes for different clinical practice patterns and the experience of FDA-approved drugs and medical devices.

BHI is being pilot-tested and will be operational in 2007.

Blue Health Intelligence is part of Blue Distinction, an umbrella program for multiple initiatives that foster health information transparency by Blue Plans nationwide.

"As a leader in health care transparency, we are committed to collaborating with physicians, hospitals and other stakeholders to provide consumers with meaningful cost and quality data," Glasscock said. "We will continue to provide consumers with the information they need to make informed choices about their medical care."

In addition to Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, the company's participating units include:

-- Anthem National Accounts
-- Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Colorado
-- Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Connecticut
-- Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Indiana
-- Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Kentucky
-- Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Maine
-- Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Missouri
-- Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Nevada
-- Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in New Hampshire
-- Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Ohio
-- Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Virginia
-- Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Wisconsin
-- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia
-- Blue Cross of California

About Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield

Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, the largest health insurer in New York State, based on PPO and HMO membership, is a subsidiary of WellPoint, Inc. (NYSE: WLP). WellPoint's mission is to improve the lives of the people it serves and the health of its communities. WellPoint, Inc. is the largest health benefits company in terms of commercial membership in the United States. Through its nationwide networks, the company delivers a number of leading health benefit solutions through a broad portfolio of integrated health care plans and related services, along with a wide range of specialty products such as life and disability insurance benefits, pharmacy benefit management, dental, vision, behavioral health benefit services, as well as long term care insurance and flexible spending accounts. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, WellPoint is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and serves its members as the Blue Cross licensee for California; the Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensee for Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri (excluding 30 counties in the Kansas City area), Nevada, New Hampshire, New York (as Blue Cross Blue Shield in 10 New York City metropolitan and surrounding counties and as Blue Cross or Blue Cross Blue Shield in selected upstate counties only), Ohio, Virginia (excluding the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.), Wisconsin; and through UniCare. Additional information about WellPoint is available at http://www.wellpoint.com.

Source: http://guidelines-to-health-fitness.blogspot.com/2012/08/empire-blue-cross-blue-shield-joins.html

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