Managed Care Report
Managed Care Report
• Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida (BCBSFL; Jacksonville, FL) is introducing a new program to help seniors save up to 30% on prescription drugs. The new Blue Saver prescription drug program will give more than 17,000 Florida members of BCBSFL’s Medicare supplemental plans a new way to save money using a discount card being mailed to their homes. To use the program, when members need to fill a prescription, they present their discount card to participating pharmacies.
• Cigna Corp. (Philadelphia) said it expects to recognize an after-tax gain of $40 million on the sale of an additional interest in its Japan life operations to Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance Company. Cigna reported earlier this month that the sale is expected to occur in April and will reduce Cigna’s ownership interest in the unit, INA Himawari Life Insurance, to 61%. Yasuda, which acquired a 10% stake in INA Himawari in 1993, announced in 1996 it would boost its stake to 60%. The Japan operations offer indemnity insurance coverages, with some products containing managed care or administrative service aspects.
• WellPoint Health Networks (Woodland Hills, CA), the owner of Blue Cross of California, has offered to buy the parent of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Colorado (BCBSCO; Denver), Rocky Mountain Hospital and Medical Service (Denver), for more than $200 million, reported The Wall Street Journal. But two weeks ago, BCBSCO agreed to a transaction with Anthem (Indianapolis) for $165 million, the Journal reported. WellPoint officials said they hope to revive negotiations with the company.
• Humana (Louisville, KY) has begun using IMA’s (Washington) Edge software to automate customer relationship management activities on an enterprise-wide basis. Five call centers in four states Kentucky, Florida, Texas, and Wisconsin are linked to a single logical customer contact center supporting Humana’s outbound and inbound telesales efforts for MediGap insurance.
• Pennsylvania Physician Healthcare Plan (Harrisburg, PA) has received permission from state regulators to operate as an HMO in Pennsylvania, reported Best’s Insurance News. The HMO, which will be called Physicians Care HMO, will operate in Cumberland, Dauphin, and Berks counties. Richard Felice, president/CEO, said doctors formed the company in 1995 to create a physician-controlled managed care organization. About 4,000 doctors are shareholders in the company.
• PacifiCare Health Systems (Santa Ana, CA) said last week that PacifiCare Benefit Administrators (Mercer Island, WA), one of PacifiCare’s third party administrator subsidiaries, is pursuing a sale of its assets to focus PacifiCare’s long-term strategy in Washington on growth of the commercial and Medicare managed care product lines.
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