My Insurance Manager for Healthcare Professionals

Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina

Healthcare providers rely on information everyday – to make treatment decisions, manage practices and work effectively with insurers. Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina (BCBSSC) sought to introduce Web-based programs that provided essential information to their providers in an easy-to-use format. My Insurance Manager (MIM) was the result. Currently available to all BCBSSC-contracted physicians, it provides access to information such as member eligibility, real-time claims filing and status, along with unique access to customer service.

Program Elements

• MIM was on the forefront of Web functionality when it was first introduced in 1999 . Each year thereafter, tools were added to MIM, increasing the number of Web-based functions available to providers . However, to reduce the use of telephone inquiries from physicians and increase providers' ability to self-service on the Web, BCBSSC introduced STATchat™ to com­pliment the MIM system. STATchat is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) application that allows providers who use MIM to talk with a customer service agent in real time over the Internet using an inexpensive headset with microphone.
  
  
• Providers using STATchat are prioritized over calls from provider offices using traditional phone lines. Information on the physician and member is automatically displayed on the service agent's desktop computer.
  
  
• Because both the provider and service agent are looking at the same in­formation, no time is wasted in providing identification codes or spelling member names for the service agent.

Program Results

• Providers feel more secure using MIM, aware that live help is available and easily accessed.
  
  
• Providers registered to use MIM have increased from 933 in March 2000 to more than 57,000 by Q3 2005.
  
  
• Percentage of inquiries made via the Web have increased from 12 percent to more than 54 percent of all inquiries.
  
  
• MIM has helped improve provider administrative efficiencies and BCBSSC reduce its costs to administer benefits, saving more than $6 million since 2001.

Contact

David Boucher, Associate Vice President, 803-264-3256, david.boucher@bcbssc.com