As a matter of policy, CareFirst’s Medical Affairs and Networks Management department maintains sharp focus on preventing illness and encouraging good health practices as on-going strategies to reduce health care costs. In April, CareFirst launched a comprehensive care management program to identify chronic and debilitating diseases – including diabetes, asthma and cancer – and to support campaigns to combat them. The program also stresses the importance of pre- and post-natal care and childhood immunizations.

An on-line tool, “Broker Express,” was introduced in April to make it easier for brokers to provide quotes, generate proposals and manage CareFirst sales prospects.

In October, the CareFirst Preferred Provider Organization in Maryland ranked first in a survey of PPO member satisfaction conducted by one of the nation’s foremost consumer magazines.

In August, My Care First, the company’s Internet resource for personal health information, was ranked among the best health care web sites in a competition sponsored by Healthcare Marketing Reports magazine.

CareFirst’s Delaware affiliate launched a self-service Internet site for members to complement a similar service for providers introduced a year earlier. Members were able to get information about claims, membership status, benefits, and physicians. The combined member/provider web site generated more than 221,000 on-line transactions in 2001.