California
Health Care Coalition Selects Blue Shield of California as
Exclusive Health Plan Partner to Improve the Quality and Cost of
Health Care for Its Members
Collaboration will produce higher quality, more
cost-effective HMO and PPO networks for CHCC member
organizations
San Francisco, CA - July 19, 2007 – After a competitive
process, the California Health Care Coalition (CHCC) announced
today that it has selected Blue Shield of California as its
exclusive health plan partner to improve the quality and
affordability of hospital and physician care in California. CHCC
currently represents 43 public and private sector employers,
unions and trust fund member organizations, with a combined
membership of 3 million Californians (see attached list of CHCC
member organizations).
The CHCC-Blue Shield of California collaboration will focus
on building higher quality, higher efficiency HMO and PPO
networks for CHCC member consideration and enrollment beginning
in 2008.
“California’s health industry delivers uneven quality care
and is among the most expensive in the world,” said Sally
Covington, Executive Director of CHCC. “We selected Blue Shield
of California because it made the strongest commitment to work
collaboratively with us to make needed improvements in the
quality, appropriateness and cost of hospital and physician
care.”
Blue Shield and CHCC will work together to develop HMO and
PPO networks that meet purchaser expectations for health care
that is safe, effective, efficient, patient-centered, and fairly
priced. Blue Shield will also provide access to wellness and
other prevention and care management programs that improve
health and help to reduce costs. CHCC member organizations will
be able to decide if, when and how to offer these HMO and PPO
networks to their own plan beneficiaries.
“We are excited to work with the California Health Care
Coalition to make it easier for its members to obtain quality
health care and control costs.” said Janet Widmann, Vice
President and General Manager of Blue Shield’s Labor, Public and
Strategic Accounts Sector. “Blue Shield is committed to marrying
effective care with cost containment, and thereby to deliver
superior value to our customers.”
The high performance HMO will deliver more quality
information on medical group performance to purchasers and their
enrollees, and be available on both a fully insured and
flex-funded basis. The high quality, high performance PPO will
be available initially on a self-funded basis only. Both
networks will offer access to valuable online health management
resources, including the Healthy Lifestyle Rewards program,
which allows members to earn cash incentives for participation
in online health and wellness programs.
Continuing its efforts to contain the growth of health care
costs, Blue Shield will offer these high quality, high
performance HMO and PPO network products to other customers
after the CHCC launch.
About Blue Shield of California
Blue Shield of California, an independent member of the Blue
Shield Association, is a not-for-profit health plan dedicated to
providing Californians with access to high quality care at a
reasonable price. Founded in 1939, it now has 3.2 million
members, 4,500 employees, one of the largest provider networks
and more than 20 office locations, providing a wide range of
commercial and government products throughout the state. The
company contributes $30 million annually to the Blue Shield of
California Foundation to fund nonprofit organizations that
improve access to quality health care in California. Contact
your local agent or broker for more information about Blue
Shield products and services, or visit the Blue Shield web site
at
www.blueshieldca.com.
About California Health Care Coalition
The California Health Care Coalition is a membership
organization of employers, unions and health and welfare trust
funds, currently representing 3 million Californians. Coalition
members are determined to improve health care quality and reduce
costs without losing benefits. CHCC strategies are to organize
health care purchasers at the community and statewide levels,
use this leverage to obtain detailed information on provider
quality and costs, educate its members and the public about
medically unjustified variations in performance, and form
working partnerships that drive significant improvements in the
quality and cost-effectiveness of hospital and physician care.
Additional information about CHCC can be obtained by calling
415-567-4264 or visiting the website at
http://chccnet.org.
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