Blue Cross of California and the California Health Alliance Form Innovative Collaboration to Benefit San Diego Doctors.

Business Editors & Health Writers

SAN DIEGO & THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 2, 2001

Affiliation Aims to Reduce Administrative Hassles

and Enhance Patient Health

Blue Cross of California (Blue Cross) and the San Diego-based California Health Alliance (CHA), a not-for-profit affiliate of the San Diego County Medical Society, have announced a new initiative dedicated to assisting San Diego County physicians reduce administrative burdens and costs through the use and implementation of new technologies and enhancing the health status of Blue Cross members through education and promotion of best clinical care practices.

Both parties will contribute financial, technical and staff-based resources to accomplish the goals and objectives of the project.

According to Dr. Woodrow Myers, chief medical officer for Blue Cross: "We are engaged in this effort as a direct and quantifiable step towards improving our relationships with physicians, not just in our network, but in the community. We want them to have 21st-century tools and knowledge that will help them improve the efficiency of their offices and the health outcome of our members."

Myers stated that this program can have enormous impact on the health of the community by facilitating "best practice" medical care using the latest advances in information technology. "We are very pleased to be involved in this effort. This is an appropriate and significant way to use our resources," he said.

Dr. Stephen H. Carson, chief medical officer of the CHA, is excited with the structure and goals of the initiative. "Blue Cross has recognized the value of new technology in reducing the administrative costs and burdens for the physician," Carson said.

"By incorporating user-friendly information systems into their day-to-day practice, physicians and their staff will be able to spend more time with their patients, provide regularly updated patient education material at the click of a mouse, decrease the chance of medication errors through pharmaceutical software, and better manage a patient's disease through state-of-the-art clinical guidelines."

Key initiatives include the following:

-- Reducing Administrative Burdens/Adopting New Technologies Initiative --
Reduce numerous variations through the adoption of evidence-based clinical
guidelines and patient handouts for certain common conditions that affect a
significant portion of the population and for which there is opportunity for
improvement through the adoption of best practices. These will be made
available to doctors via the Internet, and the CHA will develop and operate
this Web site(s). Example: Establish connectivity necessary for a virtual
private network that doctors, hospitals and other health care vendors will be
able to use for the purpose of real-time eligibility and benefits verification.
This effort will complement other ongoing efforts in establishing compliance
with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and
potentially reduce administrative hassles for key participants in health care
delivery.

-- Physician/Patient Education Initiative -- Blue Cross will provide funding to
allow the CHA to conduct regular seminars for San Diego physicians and
physician groups that focus on a variety of topics, including computer
technology in medicine, best practice guidelines, patient education, HIPAA
compliance and patient confidentiality, patient satisfaction and service and
maximizing quality of patient care.

According to Carl Volpe, vice president of strategic health partnerships for Blue Cross, "With this initiative, Blue Cross is reinforcing its commitment to the provider community and building on successful models of partnership."

Last year, Blue Cross implemented enhanced contracts with Catholic Healthcare West and Tenet hospital systems for better reimbursement and supporting activities, including nursing recruiting and retention. The implementation of this San Diego initiative is designed to address, improve and educate physicians about information technology and its practical use in enhancing both patient and health plan transactions in order to improve the delivery of health care services.

Blue Cross of California and its California affiliates, with more than 5.6 million medical members in the state, is an operating subsidiary of WellPoint Health Networks Inc., one of the nation's largest publicly traded health care companies. WellPoint serves the health care needs of more than 9.8 million medical and more than 42 million specialty members nationally.

WellPoint offers a broad spectrum of quality network-based health products, including open access PPO, POS and hybrid products, HMO and specialty products. Specialty products include pharmacy benefit management, dental, utilization management, vision, mental health, life and disability insurance, long-term-care insurance, flexible spending accounts, COBRA administration and Medicare supplements.

The California Health Alliance functions as the not-for-profit business arm of the San Diego County Medical Society and represents more than 2,200 physicians in the local community. Since its inception in January 2001, CHA has established partnerships to deliver a suite of services for physician offices. These services include high-speed connectivity with hospitals, health plans and other clinical providers that meet the new requirements for privacy and security.