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Keeping Our Members
and Their Families Healthy
As a leading health care services company in the nation's capital, we're proud to provide our members with comprehensive coverage and low out-of-pocket expenses. In 1996, we made great strides in helping
our members and their families stay healthy.
For example, First Help, a 24-hour medical advice line, gives our members the ability to speak directly with a specially trained registered nurse about their health care needs any time, day or night. Not only does the service provide information and health care advice to ensure our members receive the right level of care
at the right time, it enables them to take a more active role in their health care decisions.
To make things easier, we have also created the Customer Assistance Response Express (CARE) line which provides claims processing and claims-paid status to our members via telephone.
And when our members are traveling outside their provider network area, they will have peace of mind when they are covered through BlueCard - a service that allows members to use their BCBSNCA identification card at any Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plan
participating hospital or physician across the country and overseas.
Closer to home, many of our members may also take advantage of our new five-part health and wellness program which was introduced in 1996. The program offers discounts at area fitness clubs, child care centers and smoking cessation, weight management and health education programs.
Access to Large Networks
Through its various plans, BCBSNCA offers its
members flexibility and greater access to health care
by providing a network of more than 10,000 private physicians and 59 hospitals located throughout the Washington metropolitan area. And to be ready to
serve potential customers in the growing Washington suburbs, we expanded our HMO, CapitalCare, and PPO networks this year to include Fauquier, Stafford and Spotsylvania counties and the City of Fredericksburg in Virginia; and Anne Arundel county in Maryland.
With a large network of local primary care doctors, gynecologists and obstetricians, specialists and other providers, members not only have access to quality health care, but we encourage them to stay healthy through scheduled preventive care such as routine physical exams, childhood immunization, cholesterol testing, Pap smears, mammograms and prostate
screening, to name a few.
Managing Health Care
At BCBSNCA, keeping our members healthy is a
number-one priority. Preventative care is a key component of comprehensive health care. Timely preventative services reduce the risk of illness and take care of small health problems before they become large ones.
Likewise, we encourage thorough pre- and post-natal care. Mothers and their infants also receive a post-partum home visit if prescribed by their physician. In addition, we recommend mothers-to-be select their pediatrician from our large network of providers well
in advance of their due date to ensure they are comfortable with their choice. Babies do not come with instruction books. That is why we are committed to helping our mothers and their babies right from the start with regular checkups and immunizations.
Helping members manage chronic disease is
another way we help them stay healthy. With diabetes being the fourth leading cause of death by disease in the U.S., in late 1996 we implemented a diabetes management program to monitor our CapitalCare members who have a history of diabetes. Case managers, who are registered nurses, assess members' specific needs, educate them about their disease and coordinate
their care with primary care physicians. Through early detection and education, our goal is to help prevent diabetes-related complications such as heart disease, high blood pressure and blindness.
Staying on Top
In 1996, BCBSNCA was named the top-ranked local health care company, according to the second annual brand image survey conducted by National Research, Inc. BCBSNCA ranked first in six attributes: dependability, flexibility, health care expertise, quality of
physician and hospital networks, hassle-free service
and national acceptance.
Comments and suggestions from our members
are taken very seriously and help us improve the care and service they receive overall. Over the past year, we have focused on analyzing the concerns and feedback from our members and have taken steps to continually improve our performance. Furthermore, in 1996, our customer performance score rose to 97.4 points on the index established by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association - the highest score in ten years.
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Serving Maryland, the District of Columbia and portions of Virginia. CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield is the shared business name of CareFirst of Maryland, Inc. and Group Hospitalization and Medical Services, Inc. CareFirst BlueChoice, Inc., an affiliate company, also offers health benefit products and services on this site.
CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield and CareFirst BlueChoice, Inc. are independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
® Registered trademark of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. ®' Registered trademark of CareFirst of Maryland, Inc. |
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