JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Feb. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Inc. (BCBSF) is now accredited as a CEO Cancer Gold Standard™ employer by the CEO Roundtable on Cancer. BCBSF is the first Florida-based health insurer, the third Florida-based company overall and one of only 116 employers nationally to receive this distinction.

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The Gold Standard accreditation recognizes BCBSF's efforts to reduce the risk of cancer for employees and their covered family members by promoting healthy lifestyle choices, encouraging early detection through cancer screenings and ensuring access to quality treatment.

"At BCBSF, our commitment to wellness is a primary part of who we are as a company," said BCBSF's CEO and Chairman Pat Geraghty. "We know good health starts at home, so our vision of helping people and communities achieve better health extends first to our employees. But it certainly doesn't stop there."

The company demonstrates the high value it puts on a healthy workforce through its robust wellness program that offers education, fitness events and annual health assessments to all employees. BCBSF also provides on-site medical care for employees and their adult dependents and their coverage includes preventive services paid at 100 percent.

"For 2012, our commitment to workplace wellness will focus on better habits," Geraghty added. "If we can help people effectively manage daily health impacts such as stress and diet, their risk of cancer is reduced from every angle."

Geraghty will encourage BCBSF's health care partners to seek their own CEO Cancer Gold Standard, and to help employer customer groups become accredited as well. BCBSF helps employer customers offer their own comprehensive worksite wellness through the "Better You from Blue" program.

In 2011, BCBSF's "Better You from Blue" became the first health insurer-sponsored wellness program in the state of Florida to be awarded the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) accreditation.

BCBSF is the fourth independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association to become Gold Standard accredited. It is the second Blues organization within one year to receive accreditation under Geraghty's leadership.

About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida
Floridians have placed their trust in Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida since 1944. Our members count on BCBSF to continuously develop better solutions that promote more affordable health care across the state. Our mission – advancing the health and well-being of all Floridians – is central to all that we do. Helping people in their pursuit of health reflects BCBSF's commitment to ensuring affordable plans, providing personal support for health and wellness and building strong communities that enable health and wellness for all Floridians. BCBSF is a not-for-profit, policyholder-owned, tax-paying mutual company. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., BCBSF is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies. For more information, visit www.bcbsfl.com.

About The CEO Roundtable on Cancer
The CEO Roundtable on Cancer was founded in 2001, when former President George H.W. Bush challenged a group of executives to "do something bold and venturesome about cancer within your own corporate families." The CEOs responded by creating and encouraging the widespread adoption of the CEO Cancer Gold Standard which calls for organizations to evaluate their health benefits and workplace culture and take extensive, concrete actions in five key areas of health and wellness to fight cancer in the workplace.  For more information on the CEO Cancer Gold Standard™ and the web-based accreditation process and support, please visit www.CancerGoldStandard.org.

SOURCE Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Inc.

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