Donna K. Lencki of Capital BlueCross to serve as panelist, will challenge payers at The 2013 DiabetesMine™ Innovation Summit

HARRISBURG, Pa., Nov. 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Donna K. Lencki, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Capital BlueCross, will serve as a panelist at The 2013 DiabetesMine Innovation Summit on Nov. 15 at the Stanford School of Medicine in Palo Alto, Calif. The summit will bring together health care leaders and stakeholders with empowered patients to share ideas and discuss solutions for improving life for those with diabetes.

Lencki will join a panel of national health care experts who will discuss creative and innovative ways to deal with the significant health issue of diabetes, from the insurer perspective. As part of the discussion, Lencki plans to draw from the positive work being done by Capital BlueCross and encourage other payers to also make the commitment of time and resources to help address this significant health issue.

"It is no secret that there's misalignment in the current health care system between payers, vendors, health care providers, and patients," said Amy Tenderich, ePatient blogger and advocate and host of the DiabetesMine Innovation Summit. "The purpose of the DiabetesMine Innovation Summit is for activated patients to initiate a constructive dialogue among these stakeholders. We look forward to having Donna and representatives of other leading payer organizations take part in the conversation."

"Gatherings like the DiabetesMine Innovation Summit are such an important way for voices to be heard, perspectives to be shared and new ideas to take shape," said Lencki. "I am eager to join participants and fellow panelists to talk about how, together, we can foster improvements for people with diabetes — improvements that put patient care and the consumer experience at the forefront."                                      

Other panelists include: Tad Simons, co-founder and managing director of Pyxera (moderator); Deneen Vojta, senior vice president for Health Reform & Modernization at United Health; Richard Feifer, national medical director at Aetna; Charles Stemple, corporate medical director at Humana; Dr. Jim Dudl, Diabetes Lead - Care Management Institute, Kaiser Permanente; and Sandra Cook, consumer assistance specialist, Arkansas Health Benefits Exchange.

The invitation-only summit builds on the DiabetesMine Innovation Project, a multi-year patient-led initiative fostering open-source innovation to improve life with diabetes. The keynote speaker for this year's summit is Courtney Lias, Director for the Division of Chemistry and Toxicology Devices at the Food and Drug Administration.

2013 sponsors of the DiabetesMine Innovation Project and Summit include Tandem Diabetes Care, Johnson & Johnson Lifescan, Johnson & Johnson Animas, Abbott Diabetes Care, Dexcom, Insulet Corp. (OmniPod), Sanofi, Target, Valeritas, and the California HealthCare Foundation. 

About Capital BlueCross
In 2013, Capital BlueCross is celebrating 75 years of serving central Pennsylvania and Lehigh Valley residents and businesses as the region's leading health insurer. Through its family of companies, Capital BlueCross brings innovative services and clinical solutions to the marketplace. Committed to delivering medical value to its communities, Capital BlueCross focuses on improving patient satisfaction, enhancing quality of care and reducing costs. The company continues to lead the change in the industry by meeting the evolving health needs of its customers, most recently by entering the retail market and building a first-of-its-kind health and wellness store called Capital Blue. Headquartered in Harrisburg, Pa., Capital BlueCross is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, employing more than 1,800 people. More information about Capital BlueCross can be found at capbluecross.com.

About DiabetesMine.com
DiabetesMine.com is an award-winning information resource and community networking place for people affected by diabetes. Its creator, Amy Tenderich, is a journalist who lives with Type 1 diabetes herself, and has become a nationally-known ePatient advocate. She created this site "by and for patients as a diabetes newspaper with a personal twist." The DiabetesMine Innovation Project is an initiative focusing on patient-led advocacy and health technology innovation. Visit this "gold mine of straight talk and encouragement for people living with diabetes" at www.diabetesmine.com.

SOURCE Capital BlueCross