Blue Shield of California Rewards Its Network of Healthcare Providers "BlueRewards".SAN FRANCISCO--(BW HealthWire)--March 6, 1998--Blue Shield of California is the first health plan in California to offer its entire network of healthcare providers the opportunity to save money on their overhead costs. This unique program, known as BlueRewards, leverages the purchasing power of the national Blue Shield association to obtain product discounts for its provider network from nationally recognized companies. Through BlueRewards, providers in the Blue Shield network can reduce the costs of many products and services they may already be using. There is no cost to the provider for this discount program. The firms offering discounts to Blue Shield of California Blue Shield of California is a not-for-profit health insurance provider headquartered in San Francisco, California. An independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Blue Shield of California is an incorporated, wholly owned subsidiary of California Physicians' providers include: Airborne Express, ADP (1) (Automatic Data Processing) Synonymous with data processing (DP), electronic data processing (EDP) and information processing. (2) (Automatic Data Processing, Inc., Roseland, NJ, www.adp. , MCI (1) (Media Control Interface) A high-level programming interface from Microsoft and IBM for controlling multimedia devices. It provides commands and functions to open, play and close the device. (2) (Microwave Communications Inc. , Konica Medical & Surgical Products, Xerox and many more. The discounts are significant, up to 40 percent over existing prices on products and services. "Our mission is to ensure that the people of California have access to high quality care at an affordable price," said Wayne R. Moon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Blue Shield of California. "Providing this discount opportunity for our providers is another way in which Blue Shield helps to keep health care costs low and health care accessibility high." Dr. Joseph Serra, Medical Director for the Delta IPA IPA - International Phonetic Alphabet , in Stockton, stated that, "This is another example of Blue Shield's positive leadership and innovation in health care. This program clearly helps us to reduce our bottom line cost of operations, and we appreciate that." The concept for BlueRewards for Blue Shield providers is similar to Lifepath for Blue Shield members. Lifepath will make discounts on alternative health care services available to Blue Shield members. BlueRewards makes discounts on business services available to Blue Shield physicians and hospitals. Blue Shield of California is one of the state's leading health care companies, serving more than 1.9 million members with a variety of healthcare plans. Recently Blue Shield acquired the CareAmerica Health Plan and CareAmerica Life Insurance Company. The acquisition last year of CareAmerica Health added 263,000 new members to Blue Shield's fast growing HMO HMO health maintenance organization. HMO n. A corporation that is financed by insurance premiums and has member physicians and professional staff who provide curative and preventive medicine within certain financial, , bringing total Blue Shield HMO enrollment to over 738,000. Blue Shield of California is also proud to report that it recently earned a one year accreditation by the National Committee for Quality Assurance National Committee for Quality Assurance Medical practice A private, not-for-profit organization which has become the leading accreditor of managed care plans; in site visits, NCQA reviewers evaluate a managed care plan in terms of quality management, physicians' (NCQA NCQA National Committee on Quality Assurance, see there ). CONTACT: Blue Shield of California Lisa Citron citron (sĭt`rən), name for a tree (Citrus medica) of the family Rutaceae (orange family), and for its fruit, the earliest of the citrus fruits to be introduced to Europe from Asia. , 415/229-5281 |
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