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The panel also includes Vince Ford, senior vice president of CommunityServices for Palmetto Health Richland Hospital; Peter Leventis, S.C. PrimaryHealth Care Association; and Judith Verona, manager of health and wellness atSCANA. This is one of several panel discussions in the conference.
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Dr. Long will address how S.C. BlueCross works with employer groups toimprove the health of their employees through wellness and disease managementprograms under BlueCross' Total Population Health Management approach.BlueCross also works with community organizations to promote prevention andhealth education.
She also will discuss how BlueCross' disease management program,implemented with its members since 2000, addresses seven chronic diseases thatburden South Carolinians. Disease Management magazine recently published theresults of a study showing that S.C. BlueCross members enrolled in the programwere more compliant with their physicians' orders for taking medication afterreceiving guidance, encouragement, or educational information from the programas a follow-up to their doctor's visits.
"We try to address the whole health care continuum for our members, fromthe well and at-risk populations addressed through health risk assessments,onsite screenings and health coaching to the chronically ill. The biggestchallenge is getting health plan groups' management to buy into wellnessinitiatives and understand the cost justification," says Dr. Long.
The conference, to take place at the Marriott Columbia Hotel, includeskeynote presentations on "National Health Care Quality Measurement and HowSouth Carolina Compares," by Richard Sorian, National Committee for QualityAssurance; and "America's Health Crisis," by former Arkansas Gov. MikeHuckabee.
Headquartered in Columbia, S.C., BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina(www.SouthCarolinaBlues.com) is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross andBlue Shield Association. BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina and its familyof companies include more than 20 subsidiaries involved in health insuranceservices, U.S. DoD health plan and Medicare contracts, and other insurance andemployee benefits services.
SOURCE BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina
