Enrollment in Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas (BCBS) BlueEdgeSM consumer-directed health plans (CDHP) has reached more than 661,000 members, far surpassing the 500,000 milestone. With the launch of new features and product options, BlueEdge enrollment has grown at an annual rate of more than 210,000 members, with a 40 percent participation rate, since its introduction in 2004.
The success of BlueEdge comes from combining a holistic consumerism strategy with an extensive member engagement approach that:
Empowers members to become more accountable through innovative plan options and incentive programs
Engages members at every stage of their health care experience with online health management and wellness tools as well as member outreach options
Creates a seamless product experience via guidance from customer advocates combined with self-service Web service features including the ability to view pharmacy information and spending account balance and transaction history without having to leave the BCBS secure member portal, Blue Access® for Members (BAM).
Incentives play a key role in promoting wellness in consumer directed health plan designs. BCBS offers several incentive options – including our BlueEdge Wellness Rewards HCA – that employers can customize to help their employee population meet wellness goals. More than 100,000 members were enrolled in BlueEdgeSM Wellness Rewards HCA by the end of 2007. The numbers continue to grow as employers increasingly include incentives as a part of their wellness approach.
Contributing to the success of our consumer-directed products is a focus on preventive care with wellness benefits, which are typically covered at 100 percent. Consumer-directed health plans that promote wellness have the potential to prevent more costly medical care in the future. With BlueEdge products, employers choose from a number of standard and custom preventive benefit options that can help promote healthy behaviors among members.
Today, more than ever, consumers are seeking information to make good health care decisions. A recent survey shows that 61 percent of respondents had sought health information within the 12 months prior to the survey. Another 52 percent expressed interest in taking an active role in their health care decisions.*
BlueEdge helps meet the needs of these consumers by offering sophisticated interactive health education tools, promoting wellness, and encouraging self-management of health care and health care spending. Tools include treatment and hospital comparisons, health plan cost estimators and the personal health manager. In addition, members can access online educational resources that cover topics such as disease prevention, weight control, fitness, nutrition, tobacco cessation and more.
With these options, members have more control over their health care and the opportunity to influence health outcomes. Employers are able to support their “information seeking” employees by offering them another choice of plans, increasing their options while having the potential to lower the employers’ health care contributions. The results speak for themselves with BlueEdge members reporting a high level of satisfaction that is equal to or greater than the satisfaction level of HMO and PPO members.
Go to www.bcbsil.com/member/products/blueedge/ for more information on how BlueEdge works, account options, tools and services and FAQs.
*RAND Report, April 2005
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas are Divisions of Health Care Services Corporation, a Mutual Legal Reserve Company, an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
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