Blue Cross Receives Disease Management Awards

EAGAN, Minn., Feb. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of
Minnesota has received three awards for excellence from the Disease Management
Purchasing Consortium, manager of the largest database of vendored disease
management programs. The awards are in recognition of Blue Cross' performance
in achieving cost savings and reducing adverse health events for its members.
Blue Cross' disease management efforts improved quality of care in:
-- diabetes
-- asthma
-- congestive heart failure
-- coronary artery disease

The disease management awards recognized:
-- commitment to achievement of validly measured outcomes in common
chronic
conditions, including coronary artery disease, congestive heart
failure
and diabetes
-- outstanding performance in achieving the lowest chronic disease
adverse
event rate among Blue Cross Plans in a commercial population
-- achieving the greatest reduction in adverse events from 2004-2007

Al Lewis, founder and President of Disease Management Purchasing Consortium
International, Inc. said, "Blue Cross' disease management programs are
improving chronic disease outcomes for purchasers and their members. Blue
Cross is working to prevent disease from progressing, and their efforts are
succeeding in reducing adverse events. This is essential work if we are to
change our health care system to be more efficient and effective."

"Blue Cross was able to help people become more involved in their health and
actually change results by reaching out to those needing help achieving their
goals," said Dr. David W. Plocher, chief medical officer at Blue Cross. Dr.
Plocher was recently recognized as a national leader in disease management by
Managed Healthcare Executive magazine. "Blue Cross is honored to be recognized
by the Disease Management Purchasing Consortium for our commitment to members'
health improvement."

"For every dollar we invested in health improvement, we saw a return of
approximately $2. Our new Whole Person Health Support program is our latest
innovation in improving member health. It's designed so that one team of
dedicated nurses handles the full range of health challenges: prevention,
episodic and chronic conditions and catastrophic illness care. Our members
have no interruption in continuity--no duplications or handoffs from case
management to disease management. It's a single point of contact."

A key tool in the program is a "living database" which is created by linking
multiple sources of information. Member profiles in the living database
contain claims, benefits and pharmacy data, as well as information from
providers and the members themselves. "Pooling all of these inputs gives us
the most timely, relevant set of information available to identify members who
need help with their conditions," stated Dr. Plocher.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, with headquarters in the St. Paul
suburb of Eagan, was chartered in 1933 as Minnesota's first health plan and
continues to carry out its charter mission today: to promote a wider, more
economical and timely availability of health services for the people of
Minnesota. A nonprofit, taxable organization, Blue Cross is the largest health
plan based in Minnesota, covering 2.9 million members in Minnesota and
nationally through its health plans or plans administered by its affiliated
companies. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is an independent licensee
of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, headquartered in Chicago. Go to
bluecrossmn.com to learn more about Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota.

About Disease Management Purchasing Consortium Inc. (DMPC)
DMPC is the leading procurement/measurement consulting firm in the disease
management field. More than two hundred individuals and organizations have
applied for a DMPC Certification for measurement, and thirty payor
organizations have received Certification in Savings Measurement Validity.
The DMPC Outcomes Benchmarking Database is the largest in the DM field,
encompassing 31 health plans, states and employers covering 30-million lives.
Some of its findings are being published in The Journal of Population Health
Management and the forthcoming book edited by DMPC founder Al Lewis, The
Future of Disease Management. More information, including a complete list of
DMPC-Certified organizations and individuals, is at www.dismgmt.com.

SOURCE Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota

Jean Miller, +1-651-662-6479, or Pam Lux, +1-651-662-3959, both of Blue Cross
and Blue Shield of Minnesota