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November 6, 2000
Contact: Elizabeth Hammond, 803-788-0222, ext. 44626 or 800-288-2227
South Carolina Blue Cross Wins eHealthcare Leadership Award
This is the Company's Sixth National Award for Service Offered on Web Site
COLUMBIA, S.C. – eHealthcare Strategy & Trends magazine presented Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina an eHealthcare Leadership Award today at the 2000 Internet and Healthcare Conference sponsored by the Alliance for Healthcare Strategy and Marketing in Las Vegas.
"The awards program recognizes the best Web sites of healthcare organizations, online health companies, and pharmaceutical and medical equipment firms. The awards highlight the Internet's role in achieving an organization's business objectives and recognize the hard work that has gone into creating outstanding health Web sites," according to a statement by eHealthcare Strategy & Trends.
Blue Cross won a Distinction Award in the category of Best e-Business Web Site in the grouping HMO/PPOs for its Web site, www.SouthCarolinaBlues.com. Its Web site, launched in December 1999, offers a secure section called My Insurance Manager where policyholders and providers can view real time information such as claims status, deductible and out-of-pocket amounts, inpatient and outpatient authorization, eligibility, and other health insurance such as coverage through a spouse. Members also can request a new ID card, choose a physician and access benefits booklets.
"Empowering policyholders and providers with self-service day or night, seven days a week, using the Internet was paramount to us," said Stephen K. Wiggins, senior vice president and CIO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina. "The information members and providers can see is secure and real time, directly accessing our back office systems, which makes us a leader in customer service in the health insurance industry. We are especially pleased to see our efforts for customers recognized by this leadership award."
Blue Cross has also won five other national awards: a Best of Blues Award for Electronic Media and Interactive Programs from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Hospitals & Health Networks (H&HN) magazine's Most Wired Innovator 2000 Award, a Merit Award in the Insurance category of Health Information Resource Center's 2000 World Wide Web Health Awards program, and CIO magazine's Web Business 50/50 Award based on innovation in Internet sites and the magazine's CIO-100 Award for exemplary customer service.
Based in Columbia, S.C., Blue Cross covers over 1.3 million people in South Carolina and is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. It makes its My Insurance Manager functionality available to other insurance and managed care companies through its subsidiary company, Companion Information Management Resources (CIMR), also based in Columbia.
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