Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Offers New Program to Promote Cultural Competence; BCBSF Physicians Statewide Will Be First in U.S. to Access Online Course to Improve Communication Across Cultures.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida (BCBSF) will be the first health plan in the United States to offer Quality Interactions: a Patient-Based Approach to Cross-Cultural Care(C), an innovative online course, to improve communication between its network physicians and patients from Florida's many cultures.

BCBSF has contracted with Manhattan Cross Cultural Group and Critical Measures, developers and distributors of Quality Interactions, to offer physicians "real life" office visit experience in communicating with patients from different cultures. In creating an emphasis on "cultural competence" among its contracted physicians, BCBSF has moved into a leadership position in the national movement to make excellence in cross-cultural communication a focus of formal medical education.

A prestigious Institute of Medicine report titled Unequal Treatment cites disparities in health care delivery to people of different racial and ethnic groups as a major cause of poor health outcomes. Quality Interactions was developed by physicians who helped author this report, and who continue as leaders in the national movement to enhance cross-cultural understanding to improve health care quality.

Quality Interactions introduces physicians to photos and descriptions of individuals representing different ethnicities. The doctor engages these patients, and sometimes their family members, in conversations typical of an office visit. The quality of the doctor's conversation is scored, based on the patient's understanding. A physician's use of the term "hypertension," for example, is likely to be misunderstood by many patients, and some cultures still do not easily discuss cancer within families. The program offers a wealth of information beyond these basics, but it is the interactive aspect that engages the participant.

Dr. Robert Mirsky, medical director, BCBSF, said Quality Interactions will be introduced this year to 2,800 contracted primary care physicians who provide services for a little more than one-third of the total BCBSF membership. It will be offered to specialists in 2006. "We're taking this program first to doctors we have designated our 'Recognized Physicians of Excellence,' based on their commitment to quality care and excellent service," Mirsky said. "They are among Florida's physician leaders and their experience with this type of continuing education program will be an important step toward improving the quality of care for all Floridians."

Dr. Joseph R. Betancourt, senior scientist and program director for multicultural education at the Institute for Health Policy, Massachusetts General Hospital, and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, is one of the developers of Quality Interactions and was a participant in the Institute of Medicine disparity study. "Physicians need many different types of information to make a medical decision," he says. "Quality Interactions is centered on the idea that patients and their families are excellent sources of a great deal of this information, but to listen well and achieve patient compliance, their cultural perspectives must be understood. With Quality Interactions, we lead the physician through problem-based learning, giving him or her the opportunity to 'solve the case' and learn from successes and mistakes."

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida is a leader in Florida's health industry. BCBSF and its subsidiaries serve more than 7.1 million people. Since 1944, the company has been dedicated to meeting the diverse needs of all those it serves by offering an array of choices. BCBSF is a not-for-profit, policyholder-owned, tax-paying mutual company. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., BCBSF is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies. For more information concerning BCBSF, please see its Web site at http://www.bcbsfl.com.

Note to Media: Quality Interactions resides at a secured site on the Internet, and will be available to BCBSF contracted primary care physicians beginning in July, 2005. In the meantime, members of a statewide physician advisory panel have taken the course and will be available by appointment for interviews and demonstrations. The program also can be viewed with physicians at BCBSF plan offices in major cities across the state. In addition, Quality Interactions developers Dr. Joseph Betancourt and Dr. Alexander R. Green, co-developers of Quality Interactions, can be available by telephone appointment for a guided introduction to the online program, which can be sent to a reporter by special Internet link.