Anthem BCBS is supporting local communities by sharing COVID-19 data with public agencies, and community organizations tasked with making decisions that impact the health of millions of Americans during this public health crisis.
The COVID-19 public health crisis has put enormous pressure on both public and private organizations to sort through information that changes daily. This presents a new challenge for leaders who seek perspective and relevance in the data points that inform planning and decisions impacting the health of local communities.
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield (Anthem BCBS) is providing support for those organizations with two, easy-to-use analytics and engagement tools. The goal is to provide data insights and perspectives for leaders trying to figure out how and when to safely re-open businesses, schools and public events.
“During these challenging times, we understand the need for a central location of reliable information,” said Rajeev Ronanki, Chief Digital Officer at Anthem, Inc. “We continue to leverage the power and capabilities of data and Artificial Intelligence to provide insights to support decision makers as they work to combat this pandemic."
The two tools, the C-19 Explorer and the C-19 Navigator, provide data in dashboards that allow users to visualize what's happening in their respective communities with an aggregation of information from multiple stakeholders
C-19 Explorer: Regional readiness data
C-19 Explorer is intended for government officials, healthcare leaders and community leaders to help them understand a region’s readiness to reopen. Visitors to the page see a snapshot of the U.S. population and the latest figures on infections. The dashboard also includes forecasting tools identifying future hot spots for infections based on state. An interactive map of the us allows users to track community mobility, hospital bed utilization, unemployment figures and the amount of testing in a given area. The dashboards combine public and private data at the federal, state, and county levels.
C-19 Navigator: A closer look at populations
A second data tool is called C-19 Navigator. It is specifically for Anthem BCBS clients. It uses the same data as C-19 Explorer, but also has detailed information that incorporates COVID-related data specific to Anthem employer customers. The C-19 Navigator delivers insights and visualizations that allow customers to see how many people in their health plans have been impacted by the virus and may be affected in the future. The data is properly secured and adheres to appropriate privacy policies.
Anthem BCBS is making both Explorer and Navigator tools easily accessible to stakeholders through its new portal, which will contain links to the suite of COVID-related tools Anthem BCBS has introduced in the past several weeks to help consumers. Anthem BCBS points out that these data tools will continue to evolve and meet the needs of the communities and markets they serve.
Other Blue Cross Blue Shield companies are making similar commitments to support efforts to track infection rates with local data. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana is partnering with the state department of health with a dashboard called the COVID-19 Tracker.
Anthem BCBS is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, an association of independent, locally operated Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies.