BHI Honored as one of a Handful of Firms to Make the Cut in Rounds of Digital Health Innovation Awards for its Response to the COVID Crisis

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Health Intelligence^® (BHI^®) was among a group of select companies considered for the 2020 UCSF Digital Health Innovation Awards, which recognizes "companies that are defining the digital health revolution." BHI was a contender for a COVID-19 Patriot Award for "digital products that have aided in the response to the global pandemic." BHI's entry was centered on the expansion of its Whyzen Analytics platform to help assess members' risk of severe cases of COVID and design better interventions tailored to what users are experiencing at the account level.

It's the second year for the awards, created by UCSF Health Hub, the University of California at San Francisco's health incubator. More than 750 companies applied this year. The awards are co-sponsored by 50+ healthcare innovation centers, dozens of sponsoring venture capital firms, leading healthcare and technology industry service providers, and health systems around the country.

Over 100 of the nation's leading digital health luminaries and venture capitalists are judging the contest, "looking for the latest commercial, in-market technologies and solutions that have been proven to dramatically transform healthcare and radically improve patient outcomes, while reducing the onerous cost burden that America faces," UCSF Health Hub said.

"We are thrilled to have been considered for what has fast become one of the nation's most prestigious healthcare tech awards program," said Swati Abbott, BHI's CEO. "I am so proud of what our team accomplished in such a short period of time to help address this unprecedented healthcare crisis and help employers, brokers, and health plans find actionable solutions in a time of uncertainty."

As the pandemic took hold, it became critical for Whyzen users to know which of their accounts' members/employees had underlying health conditions that placed them at elevated risk for COVID-19. The resulting enhancements to Whyzen visually identified where members/ employees reside within service areas and provided heat maps of their varying risk statuses. Users can understand how COVID-19's geographic variability affects risk and prevalence, and isolate and make transparent the relationship between a broad range of social determinants of health and the risk of specific adverse outcomes from COVID-19.

Also being analyzed through Whyzen are the longer-term impacts on population health and quality from shifting sites of care away from the ED and hospital-based outpatient sites, and deferring care such as postponed surgeries, diagnostic tests, and immunizations. With virtual care on a sharp upturn in the wake of the pandemic, users also can discover COVID-19's impact on telehealth costs and utilization, including how that service is used by different specialists and for different conditions, including behavioral health and substance abuse.

"I'm incredibly proud of the BHI team for this recognition," said Mary Henderson, BHI's senior vice president of Product Strategy and Innovation. "Our clinical, consulting, and product development units have been working on this issue since the very beginning – compiling clinical knowledge, anticipating customer needs, and developing prototypes. It's been very collaborative and it has taken place in a very fluid situation. As the implications of the disease have changed and become more pronounced, we have regularly updated our analytics to meet the needs of our clients."

About Blue Health Intelligence

Leveraging the power of medical and pharmacy claims data from more than 200 million Americans, Blue Health Intelligence^® (BHI^®) delivers insights that empower healthcare organizations to improve care, reduce costs, and optimize performance. BHI has the largest, most up-to-date, and uniform data set in healthcare. Its team of data analysts, clinicians, IT experts, and epidemiologists provide analytics, software-as-a-service, and in-depth consulting to payers, providers, employers, medical device companies, and other healthcare stakeholders. BHI is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and carries the trade name of Health Intelligence Company, LLC.

SOURCE Blue Health Intelligence

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