HCSC Acquisition of MEDecision Supports Insurer's Strategy to Improve Health, Reduce Costs

    CHICAGO, Aug. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- With today's completion of its
 acquisition of MEDecision, one of the country's leading health information
 technology companies, Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) has achieved
 solid support for its strategy of reducing its members' health care costs
 by helping to improve their health. HCSC operates the Blue Cross and Blue
 Shield plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
 
     "As the nation's fourth largest health insurer, HCSC must be a leader
 in getting health care costs under control," said Pat Hemingway Hall,
 HCSC's president and chief operating officer. "The technological
 capabilities that MEDecision provides will help us tackle the underlying
 costs of health care and enable us to contribute significantly to better
 health and less health care spending for our members."
 
     HCSC will continue to work with its new subsidiary MEDecision to
 enhance the technological support for Blue Care Connection -- HCSC's
 collaborative care system designed to combine and analyze an individual's
 claims information, medical data, personal health record and biometric data
 to produce a customized member health profile and a personalized plan of
 action to optimize wellness.
 
     HCSC has embarked on an aggressive strategy to support its member and
 community wellness-focused mission, combining comprehensive health
 insurance and programs to manage chronic disease with wellness programs to
 help prevent disease and optimize health.
 
     Since HCSC's strategy for reducing health care costs by improving
 health will be implemented in four demographically diverse states with more
 than 42 million people combined, the company believes its approach can
 serve as a model for addressing the health and health care spending
 problems that are challenging the nation.
 
     Health Care Service Corporation, a Mutual Legal Reserve Company, is the
 largest customer-owned health insurer in the United States and the fourth
 largest health insurer in the country overall, with 12.4 million members in
 its Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and
 Texas. The company is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue
 Shield Association. HCSC also has a rating of AA- (Very Strong) from
 Standard and Poor's, Aa3 (Excellent) from Moody's and A+ (Superior) from
 A.M. Best Company. For more information, visit http://www.HCSC.com.
 
 
 

SOURCE Health Care Service Corporation