Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Michigan Oncologists Launch Statewide Initiative to Create Cancer Guidelines

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Michigan Oncologists Launch Statewide
Initiative to Create Cancer Guidelines

DETROIT, Nov. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and
Oncology Physician Resource announced today the launch of an innovative
oncology treatment initiative aimed at enhancing the quality of care for
patients with certain types of cancer.

OPR, a statewide physician organization comprised of 140 oncologists
representing 64 Michigan oncology practices, is working with oncology leaders
from across Michigan, as well as P4 Healthcare, an oncology benefit management
company, and BCBSM to develop the Michigan Oncology Clinical Treatment
Pathways program. In this program, a statewide panel of oncology leaders have
created up-to-date clinical guidelines for treating patients with lung, breast
and colon cancer, as well as guidelines for supportive care. Supportive care
products are used to prevent or treat the adverse side effects that arise as a
result of the tumor itself or administration of cancer treatment. The
guidelines will be shared with oncologists across Michigan as a way to provide
cost-effective care and improve the quality of health care delivery, without
compromising integrity or delivery of treatment.

"As a physician group comprised of and run by oncologists, our goal in this
program was to address quality and efficiency of cancer care while ensuring
that the integrity of the physician practice and the patient experience are
not compromised," said Phil Stella, M.D., president and chief executive
officer, OPR.

"Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan supports this program as part of our own
efforts to assist the physician community while continually seeking to improve
the care delivered to our members. We applaud the oncology community for their
development of evidence-based pathways that can create high-quality and
cost-effective care for patients," said Tom Simmer, M.D., chief medical
officer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

P4 Healthcare, creators of the P4 Pathways program that serves as the
foundation for this initiative, will provide proprietary technology, tools,
expertise, educational programs and hands-on training for developing,
implementing and continually monitoring and reporting on anything relating to
the P4 Pathways program.

Practices implementing P4 Pathway programs have historically shown less
variability in regimens, reduced misuse of chemotherapy, better managed
toxicity, optimized use of biologics and more defined treatment milestones.
The software tools are user friendly, have minimal impact on workload and
require no hardware investment.

"P4 Pathways has grown tremendously and currently helps manage the treatment
of 10 million lives across six states. The reason for this growth is that our
proprietary technology provides real-time data and analysis coupled with
evidence-based pathways and appropriate reimbursement, which has significantly
improved patient outcomes with a substantial reduction in health care costs,"
said Jeffrey Scott, M.D., chief executive officer, P4 Pathways.

About Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, a nonprofit organization, provides and
administers health benefits to 4.7 million members residing in Michigan in
addition to members of Michigan-headquartered groups who reside outside the
state. The company offers a broad variety of plans including: Traditional Blue
Cross Blue Shield; Blue Preferred®, Community Blue(SM) and Healthy Blue
Incentives(SM) PPOs; Blue Care Network HMO; BCN Healthy Blue Living(SM);
Flexible Blue(SM) plans compatible with health savings accounts; Medicare
Advantage; Part D Prescription Drug plans and MyBlue(SM) products in the
under-age-65 individual market. BCBSM also offers dental, vision and hearing
plans. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network are nonprofit
corporations and independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Association. For more company information, visit bcbsm.com.

About Oncology Physician Resource
Oncology Physician Resource is an innovative physician-owned management
services organization with more than 140 oncologists representing 64 Michigan
oncology practices. OPR's mission is to assist independent oncology practices
in providing optimal care to their patients while surviving and thriving in a
challenging health care environment. As a physician directed entity, OPR is
focused exclusively on patient access to care, optimal quality care and
managing the high costs of oncology drugs for its physician members.

About P4 Pathways, a P4 Healthcare company
P4 Pathways partners with payers across the country to establish clinically
proven, evidence-based oncology treatment protocols designed to promote the
delivery of high quality, cost efficient patient care. These protocols seek
optimal patient outcomes by ensuring selections of the most cost-effective
medications, minimizing side effects, reducing errors and minimizing
toxicities. Patients, payers and physicians all benefit alike. Significant
cost savings and enhanced care are realized by eliminating unnecessary medical
costs, reducing hospitalization and selecting the most cost effective
medications. P4 Pathways, LLC, is a P4 Healthcare company. For more
information visit P4Pathways.com.

SOURCE Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

Helen Stojic, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, +1-313-549-9884,
newsroom@bcbsm.com; Lesli Lord, Oncology Physician Resource, +1-214-578-9589,
Leslord@oprservices.com; Bert Baublitz, P4 Healthcare, +1-443-364-5256,
BBaublitz@p4healthcare.com