2024 Annual Report: Using Innovation to Improve Health Care
Blue Daily
| 3 min read
The security, accuracy and utility of data contribute every day to the care delivery and claims payment experiences of members, customer groups and providers. Across our 1,250-employee IT department, there are nearly 20 job functions working on nearly 20 different technology platforms to support both daily operations at Blue Cross and build programs for the future. As our enterprise’s technology continues to evolve, we’re also expanding our possibilities for what we can achieve. Investing in upgraded technology creates new opportunities to improve our customer satisfaction, increase our efficiency and invent better, more affordable health care solutions.
Providing the strongest protection for our members’ data
Our Electronic Data Interchange systems manage the electronic exchange of business information. Our EDI systems and infrastructure earned HITRUST r2 certification, which places Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan in an elite group of organizations worldwide that have earned this certification.
New portal launched for our agent partners
In June 2024, we launched a redesigned agent portal to improve our agent partners’ experience. This resource includes personalized dashboards for agents’ book of business, curated content and easy-to-find status updates for service issues.
BCBSM.com gets a new look
Our Digital Experience team redesigned and rewrote more than 1,500 pages of our bcbsm.com website and enhanced the pages for search engine optimization. Averaging more than 1.6 million weekly impressions, bcbsm.com serves as the central hub for our stakeholders.
Helping our customers maximize their coverage
Our data analytic capabilities provide insights our customers need to choose and understand their health care benefits. We use a consultative reporting model that provides continuous strategic review opportunities:
- Supporting decisions on benefit and plan design
- Aligning on focus areas and potential solutions
- Reviewing and detecting for anomalies or unexpected trends
- Highlighting opportunities for improved affordability and outcomes based on customer-specific data
- Conducting a deep-dive analysis on priority topics
- Recommending solutions for top customer priorities
Whyzen Analytics is a powerful tool that provides insights and trend data about our group customers to support cost-saving strategies. The tool is used for fully insured and self-funded commercial and Medicare groups with 50 or more contracts. Available reports range from inpatient versus outpatient use, to care for specific medical conditions, including musculoskeletal and oncology.
Using Artificial Intelligence responsibly in business
While BCBSM is leveraging the power of data and artificial intelligence to strengthen our enterprise, we are committed to using it appropriately, ethically and legally. In fact, there are currently more than 300 learning resources available for Blue Cross employees to learn more about AI.
Using AI and other technology enablers to address key business strategies and priorities is improving workforce productivity and business capabilities, and enabling innovation, while assisting in the delivery of exceptional products and services to our members and customers.
Leveraging AI to predict chronic diseases: In January 2024, we launched a program that uses AI and other advanced analytics to identify members who are most at risk of developing chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the next 12 months or who already have CKD without a diagnosis. This program sends our health care providers monthly updates of at-risk members and a robust toolkit with best practices to slow disease progression.
The results from this program have proven to be favorable and Blue Cross is looking to expand this support to other health conditions and expand the availability of predictive indicators to more providers.
