Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey Utilizes Multimedia Effort to Encourage Preventive Health for Women
Posted on: Tuesday, 5 December 2006, 12:01 CST
NEWARK, N.J., Dec. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey (Horizon BCBSNJ) today announced an innovative program that leverages the combined impact of phone-based, speech-enabled outreach with mailings to increase the rate of preventive health screenings. Horizon BCBSNJ's preventive health reminder telephone call program -- developed in conjunction with Eliza Corporation -- was selected by Harvard Medical School's Department of Healthcare Policy for a BlueWorks Award, an award of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association recognizing initiatives for their level of innovation, breath of applicability, and importance to the health care system.
This enhanced program will focus on eligible women due for mammogram or cervical cancer screenings. These members will be contacted with the goal of encouraging them to schedule the appropriate tests. In addition to providing relevant health information, Horizon BCBSNJ will offer its eligible members incentives as further encouragement to get the needed screenings.
"People are busy today and sometimes important health screenings are forgotten," says Richard Popiel, MD, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Horizon BCBSNJ. "We want to use every possible technology to remind our women members of the importance of these preventive health screenings and also make it easy for them to make appointments. Early detection is very important so we are going an extra step and offering incentives for women to get screened."
Eliza Corporation's speech recognition technology will conduct telephone outreach to those Horizon BCBSNJ members whose claims history indicates that they have not had their recommended mammogram or cervical cancer screenings. Eliza's interactive, conversational program assesses and addresses a member's planned behavior regarding these screenings. For mammogram screenings, women can request a transfer to a radiology scheduling line during the telephone call.
Based upon a member's spoken responses, the system will offer education and support and triggers a personalized follow-up letter to the member, if appropriate, prepared by Resolution Health Inc. (RHI). The letter will reference the initial telephone call and provide relevant information on the importance of mammograms and cervical cancer screenings.
"When Eliza reaches out to Horizon BCBSNJ members, it leverages all the available information to create interactions that feel supportive and personally relevant," says Alexandra Drane, co-founder and Senior Vice President at Eliza Corporation. "The feedback we receive from members who interact with our system over the phone gives Horizon BCBSNJ valuable insight into how they can better serve the individual needs of their members."
According to Alan Wright, M.P.H., Vice President of Product Strategy and Business Development, Resolution Health, Inc. (RHI), "Resolution Health's printed communications build off the information we learn during the Eliza call. The targeted interventions that members receive in the mail reinforce appropriate preventive health messaging and help inspire members to schedule these important screenings through education and incentives."
Both the telephone and mail programs offer members who schedule their screenings a gift card that can be used at hundreds of the nation's most popular retailers. This redeemable incentive is provided by IncentOne, an organization that develops and implements integrated reward, recognition and incentive programs.
"In our experience, incentives are a valuable tool for driving participation in health and wellness programs," says Susan L. Lewis, Senior Vice President, Health and Productivity Solutions at IncentOne.
About Horizon BCBSNJ
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, with headquarters in Newark, is New Jersey's largest health insurer providing coverage to more than 3.2 million people. Horizon BCBSNJ's company Web site is located at http://www.horizonblue.com/. Horizon BCBSNJ is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.
About Eliza
Eliza Corporation pioneered the design, development, and hosting of speech-enabled programs for healthcare. The company's patented phone-based outreach supports and streamlines the collection and sharing of information between healthcare organizations and the people they serve with timely, relevant, and conversational interactions. Eliza's clients span leading health care organizations, including many of the top health plans, disease management companies, and pharmaceutical companies in the nation. Eliza interacts with healthcare members in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. For more information, please visit http://www.elizacorp.com/ or call 978-921-2700.
About Resolution Health, Inc.
Resolution Health Inc. performs sophisticated healthcare data analytics and provides highly targeted patient and physician communications to help companies reduce healthcare costs and improve healthcare quality and safety. RHI clients include health plans/insurers, large self-insured employers, unions, disease management companies, pharmacy benefit management companies, and benefit consultants. Visit http://www.resolutionhealth.com/.
About IncentOne
Since 1997, IncentOne has provided integrated incentive solutions to clients ranging from small businesses to the FORTUNE(R) 500, including half of the FORTUNE(R) 50. IncentOne's solutions combine its proven incentive platform with the industry's most comprehensive reward portfolio and Best Practices to provide companies with a tool to drive business objectives. IncentOne's clients include Washington Mutual, WebMD, Blue Cross Blue Shield, MGM, ADP, NBC and the United States Postal Service. For more information, please visit http://www.incentone.com/.
Horizon BCBSNJ
CONTACT: Tom Rubino of Horizon BCBSNJ, +1-973-466-8755,trubino@horizonblue.com
Web site: http://www.horizonblue.com/http://www.elizacorp.com/http://www.resolutionhealth.com/http://www.incentone.com/
Source: PRNewswire
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