Capital BlueCross Launches Program Allowing Members to Evaluate Total Cost, Quality of Care for Specific Procedures at Various Facilities

HARRISBURG, Pa., Aug. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Capital BlueCross continued its commitment to educating and engaging members about health care decision making by launching MyCare Advisor (SM), which is an online suite of transparency tools that assists people in understanding and comparing cost, quality and satisfaction among providers. More specifically, this enhancement to existing tools provides estimated total cost information for 57 of the most common elective services at hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and imaging centers.

MyCare Advisor is simple to access and use. Members just need to log into the secure member portal at mycapbluecross.com, click on the MyCare Advisor link, choose a procedure category and select a ZIP code.  Once this is completed, all of the facilities that meet certain criteria for the selected procedure will be displayed for review and comparison.

Information available to members will include cost ranges; the name and contact information for each facility; the network the facility is participating in; whether or not the facility has a Blue Distinction Center of Excellence designation; and the number of procedures performed annually at each facility. The cost estimate information is derived from Capital BlueCross' claims data. By January the tool will provide information both locally and nationally.

"With the current health care climate, more and more people are taking ownership in the decision-making process for their own treatments and procedures, and we want to help them with this process," said Bill Lehr, president and CEO of Capital BlueCross. "Most people comparison shop for anything from groceries to a new car, but most don't realize that for routine procedures, like MRIs, X-rays or mammograms, there can be a wide variance in costs.  Knowing there is a difference is the first step in becoming an engaged health care consumer."  

Capital BlueCross is the leading health insurer in its region, providing health insurance coverage to nearly one million people in central Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley.

Capital BlueCross is committed to making health insurance simple for its customers and members through all the stages of life by offering nationally acclaimed customer service and a full range of innovative benefit programs for groups and individuals at competitive prices. Capital BlueCross received a high honor for its service by ranking highest in Member Satisfaction among all commercial health plans in the Pennsylvania Region, according to the 2010 J.D. Power and Associates National Health Insurance Plan Study. J.D. Power and Associates

By establishing a culture of caring, Capital BlueCross constantly strives to do more in order to deliver more for the men, women and children who depend on the company for their health insurance needs. Capital BlueCross has been providing health security to the people and communities of central Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley for more than 70 years and employs about 2,000 people in the region.

Headquartered in Harrisburg, Pa., Capital BlueCross is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

More information about Capital BlueCross and its subsidiaries can be found by going to www.capbluecross.com.

SOURCE Capital BlueCross

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