Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Ohio Launches Zagat Health Survey Tool in Greater...

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Ohio Launches Zagat Health Survey Tool in
Greater Cincinnati and Dayton
Members to Use Survey to Rate Physician Experiences

CINCINNATI, Jan. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in
Ohio today announced the launch of the Zagat Health Survey tool, a new online
survey tool that will allow consumers to share their physician experiences
with others in the greater Cincinnati and Dayton markets.
The survey tool is now available to members in these cities enrolled in
the company's Lumenos consumer driven health plans and will be available to
all members in these locations at the end of the first quarter of 2008. Anthem
will continue to progressively introduce this tool across all of Ohio.
"Zagat is widely known and trusted for its ability to help people share
and learn from other consumer experiences. By working with them we are able to
create a trusted resource for consumers and actively engage consumers in
sharing and using that information," said Chuck Slater, president of Anthem
Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Ohio. "Consumer experience information, such as
that enabled by the Zagat Health Survey tool, complements our Care Comparison
tool and other resources that make clinical quality and cost transparent for
consumers."
Through its relationship with Zagat, Anthem is helping to address an unmet
need for peer-to-peer interaction among health care consumers. The new survey
tool will provide a vehicle for members to review and evaluate physicians
based on a set of distinct criteria, creating a trusted resource to support
informed member decision-making.
"Honest and constructive feedback about things such as communications
skills and whether a patient trusts his/her doctor is something that all
physicians should welcome hearing," said Stephen Pleatman, M.D., a
pediatrician with Suburban Pediatrics in Mason, Ohio. "We need to know whether
we are meeting the needs of our patients and whether we are doing a good job.
Patient satisfaction tools such as this can certainly help provide that
information."
Consumers will be able to review their doctor visits based on:
-- Trust
-- Communication
-- Availability
-- Environment

In addition, the survey will feature a comments section, allowing members
to expand on their ratings. These categories are solely designed to reflect a
consumer's experience with a physician and not to reflect the quality of care
received. The survey and results will be available free of charge to members
via their health plan's Web site.
For each network physician, the online entry will display contact
information, ratings on a 30-point scale for each of the four categories, and
the percentage of members who recommend that physician. The most recent
comments will be displayed first, and members will have the option to rate the
usefulness of comments and report suspicious comments.
"Anthem is committed to providing its members with the data and tools
necessary to help them take a more active role in their health care decision
making," said Slater. "With this tool, Anthem is helping to give consumers the
ability to make informed decisions about selecting doctors based on other
people's experiences, in a format that is familiar, easy to understand and
meaningful."
About Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Ohio
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Ohio is a subsidiary of WellPoint,
Inc. WellPoint's mission is to improve the lives of the people it serves and
the health of its communities. WellPoint, Inc. is the largest health benefits
company in terms of commercial membership in the United States. Through its
access to nationwide networks, the company delivers a number of leading health
benefit solutions through a broad portfolio of integrated health care plans
and related services, along with a wide range of specialty products such as
life and disability insurance benefits, pharmacy benefit management, dental,
vision, behavioral health benefit services, as well as long term care
insurance and flexible spending accounts. Headquartered in Indianapolis,
Indiana, WellPoint is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue
Shield Association and serves its members as the Blue Cross licensee for
California; the Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensee for Colorado, Connecticut,
Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri (excluding 30 counties in the
Kansas City area), Nevada, New Hampshire, New York (as Blue Cross Blue Shield
in 10 New York City metropolitan and surrounding counties and as Blue Cross or
Blue Cross Blue Shield in selected upstate counties only), Ohio, Virginia
(excluding the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.), Wisconsin; and
through UniCare. Life and disability products are underwritten by Anthem Life
Insurance Company, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Association. Additional information about WellPoint is available at
www.wellpoint.com.
About Zagat Survey, LLC
Known as the "wildly popular" "burgundy bible", Zagat Survey is the
world's most trusted source for information about where to eat, drink, stay
and play. With more than 300,000 surveyors, Zagat Survey rates and reviews
restaurants, hotels, nightlife, movies, music, golf, shopping and a range of
other entertainment categories and is lauded as the "most up-to-date",
"comprehensive" and "reliable" guide ever published. Zagat content is
available to consumers wherever and whenever they need it: in book format, on
ZAGAT.com, via the downloadable ZAGAT TO GO for smartphones and on the mobile
web with ZAGAT.mobi. For more information, visit ZAGAT.com
SOURCE Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Ohio

Kim Ashley of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Ohio, +1-513-682-8863,
Kim.ashley@anthem.com