Preventive Health Reminder Call Initiative
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shielf of New Jersey
When Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey (Horizon-BCBSNJ) recognized that some consumers were not using preventive healthcare services, they implemented a program to help members get the quality of care they deserve. The Preventive Health Reminder Call Initiative places automated phone calls to Plan members reminding them to schedule services like immunizations for their children and annual screenings for themselves.
Program Elements
- Under the program, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey identifies and calls members who in the past year have not reported a claim for basic preventive service.
- Using computer recognition, the technology provides information about which preventive health measure the member needs and allows interaction between the computer and member based on the member's response.
- Members can offer feedback on what barriers to preventive care they may be experiencing.
- Armed with this feedback, Horizon-BCBSNJ started using a radiology scheduling vendor to link members to live scheduling assistance on
request.
Program Results
- In 2003, the Plan placed more than 1.5 million reminder calls.
- About 60,000 calls were made to senior citizens reminding them to get flu shots. The response was so successful that the program was expanded to include reminder calls for childhood immunizations, adolescent immunizations, breast and cervical screenings, and prenatal and postpartum care.
- Horizon-BCBSNJ is now exploring ways to expand the program to target consumers with chronic conditions like asthma.
Contact
Laura Breiner, RN, MSJ, 973-466-7505, laura_breiner@horizon.com
