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Thousands of Health Care Providers Enhance Online Profiles

Posted on: Thursday, 2 April 2009, 13:35 CDT

More than 5,000 providers have enhanced their profiles on myRegence.com giving patients additional information about their doctor

PORTLAND, Ore., April 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Regence is helping members make more informed health care choices by enabling participating health care providers to share key information about their practice.

In 10 minutes or less, providers within Regence networks can enhance their profile page on myRegence.com with key information such as appointment availability, extended hours, Web site URL and practice philosophy.

This joint effort between Regence and participating physicians simplifies providers' ability to attract and educate new and existing patients. And by sharing important features of their practice, members can now more easily find providers most aligned with their needs.

Additionally members have the ability to sort data, filter it down to specific items and compare providers in similar categories.

"Our goal is to facilitate the best fit between providers and their patients and to help make it easier to navigate the health care system," said David Clark, senior vice president of Health Care Services for Regence. "With this enhancement to myRegence.com, we are making it easier for providers to communicate who they are and how they practice medicine and thereby hopefully make the process of picking a doctor or facility a better experience for everyone."

Regence already offers members a provider search tool, and this enhancement will enable Regence members to determine whether a provider sees patients like them and to choose the provider based on:

• Philosophy of care
• Practice areas of expertise
• Appointment availability/accepting new patients
• Awards and other distinctions
• Patient demographics (i.e., average age and gender ratio)
• Languages spoken by staff
• Years in practice

Clark said the myRegence.com profile gives providers a robust online presence if they don't have one already and also improves the visibility of those that do by linking to their Web site from myRegence.com.

"This is another example of Regence's commitment to work with providers to give members and patients as much information as possible about their health care choices," Clark said.

"Our ultimate goal is to deliver to our members the information and incentives to be fully engaged in their health care," Clark said. "If we can work to reframe the economic structure and culture of health care, that will be a critical step toward true reform that delivers equitable, affordable care to everyone."

Background on myRegence.com

myRegence.com is designed to help advise members on health care and lifestyle options, provide navigation through the health care system and reward those who make healthier choices. With myRegence.com, members can find all of their health-related resources in one place, including claims information, fitness and nutrition tips, medication summaries and other helpful information. Members can even earn Regence Reward points --redeemable for gift certificates to hundreds of retailers -- just for actively taking charge of their health.

About Regence

Regence is the largest health insurer in the Northwest/Intermountain Region, offering health, life and dental insurance. Regence serves three million members as Regence BlueShield (in selected counties in Washington), Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah and Regence BlueShield of Idaho. Each health plan is a not-for-profit independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Regence is committed to improving the health of our members and our communities, and to transforming our health care system. For more information, please visit regence.com.

Regence is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

SOURCE Regence

Source: PR Newswire

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