BCBSA

Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans Strongly Support Health IT

The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) is committed to a health care system that can assure greater patient safety, improved quality of care and increased efficiency.  We share the Administration and Congress' vision of creating a nationwide health information network – with electronic health records (EHRs) in every doctor's office -- to support the exchange of clinical and administrative information among providers, payers, consumers and the government.  To achieve this vision, all stakeholders must be involved to assure the following is attained:

  • Interoperable data standards used by all stakeholders to support the exchange of information;
  • Consumer engagement so that consumers understand the value and benefits of health IT and are empowered to use IT to make better, more informed health decisions;
  • Widespread provider adoption which is the key to achieving a nationwide health IT system that provides clinical value and increased efficiencies; and
  • Strong, uniform privacy and security policies to assure information is protected and to instill trust in the accuracy and integrity of the data.

Recognizing the tremendous potential for health IT, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans across the country are working to achieve this broad vision by advancing health information technology (IT).  Until there is widespread adoption of interoperable EHRs, health plans are likely the most comprehensive source of health information across the continuum of care available today. 

Plans are leading efforts to promote interoperability through state health information exchanges; empowering consumers by giving them improved access to their medical information; and helping providers adopt health IT by giving them access to electronic prescribing (e-Rx) and electronic health records (EHRs).  Following are examples of how Blue Plans are advancing health IT:

Promoting Interoperability through State-Wide Health Information Exchanges

  • Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield has spearheaded the Advanced Health Information Network, an online system giving physicians and hospitals access to e-medical records and claims databases, while piloting low-cost wireless EHRs for small practices.
  • Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts has provided $50 million to fund the MA e-health Collaborative for 3 years. This pilot project is giving EHRs – software, hardware, installation, training, support – to virtually all physicians in three Massachusetts communities.
  • Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska is the main payer leading the NE Health Information Initiative, a statewide system that will serve virtually every Nebraskan by building on the existing telemedicine network. 

Empowering Consumers through Personal Health Records (PHRs)

  • The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and America's Health Insurance Plans have collaborated on an industry initiative to identify core elements of a PHR and portability standards so that a consumer's information will transfer from one PHR to another if he or she switches health plans.  Our organizations have committed to offering PHRs to all our members by the end of 2008.  
  • WellPoint is offering personal health records software to all 34 million of its insured members, based on a pilot program developed by Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New York that offers members a secure, Internet-based personal health record (PHR) that is auto-populated with data from processed claims, including doctor visits, lab results, immunizations, hospital stays, reported diagnoses and prescriptions.
  • Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (along with BCBS Texas, BCBS Oklahoma, and BCBS New Mexico) offers members a PHR and online, interactive solutions through the Personal Health Information Management Program.  The program relies on a comprehensive claims database to facilitate case management and online consumer education.
  • Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania will provide its 600,000 members secure electronic access to their own and their dependents' personal health records from their cell phones.

Helping Providers Adopt Health IT and Improving Information at the Point-of-Care

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Tennessee has launched Shared Health, which combines data from claims, lab tests, prescriptions filled, and immunizations to create a patient-centered community health record that allows multiple providers treating the same patient to view that patient's medical information via a secure Web site.

  • Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey offers physicians a suite of Internet-based applications called Prism that provides claims-based medication and service histories for specific patients.  Prism alerts physicians to issues that could affect patient care (e.g., pharmacy refill data) and allows physicians to benchmark their performance by major disease categories.
  • Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Delaware provides emergency departments with patients' claims-based medication histories.
  • Highmark BlueCross BlueShield of Pennsylvania provided $26.5 million toward the eHealth Collaborative, which will give grants to physicians to acquire health IT systems.
  • Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is funding the technology and setup required for 1,000 primary care physicians who routinely write a large volume of prescriptions.
  • BlueCross BlueShield of Hawaii supports Allscripts' e-prescribing system for more than 600 physicians and also launched a $20 million initiative to help physicians adopt EHRs.