Highmark teams up with Pittsburgh-based company to expand access to dermatology services

PITTSBURGH, Nov. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Highmark Inc. and Iagnosis Inc. today announced a new relationship to jointly build awareness of an innovative dermatology service in an effort to reduce treatment wait times for residents of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Delaware. Through the use of a consumer-friendly online tool, both companies are confident that this expanded service will help to increase access to dermatologic care.

"This new process makes it convenient for patients to access care," said Eric Starr, director of business innovation and development at Highmark. "They will just simply take a photo with a smartphone device or digital camera and then go to the secure website and send the image. Based on the image, the physician can determine if the patient can be treated virtually. This really modifies the workflow of the dermatologist allowing office visits to be used for the most critical cases."  A win for both the doctor and the consumer.

This virtual dermatology visit is not an insurance benefit; it will rather be an out-of-pocket expense for a person who decides to use this service. The charge has been initially set at $69 per visit.

"We just began this effort and already have about 10 doctors committed to joining the DermatologistOnCall^® network," said Mark Seraly, M.D., CEO and Founder of Iagnosis^®. "We expect many more to join in the next few months. This service will greatly expand access to care. Our goal is to grow the system and our new relationship with Highmark can only accelerate that effort."

"We believe our virtual office visit experience will redefine timely, quality skin care," said Lawrence Eakin, COO and co-founder of Iagnosis^®.

"This is the first of many unique consumer-focused health care products and services that the newly created business innovation center has been involved with," said Starr.

To learn more about online skin care and DermatologistOnCall^®  please visit www.dermatologistoncall.com.

About Highmark Inc.

Highmark Inc., based in Pittsburgh, is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans. Highmark serves 4.9 million members in Pennsylvania and West Virginia through the company's health care benefits business and is one of the largest Blue plans in the nation. Highmark has 20,000 employees across the country. For more than 70 years, Highmark's commitment to the community has consistently been among the company's highest priorities as it strives to positively impact the communities where we do business. For more information, visit www.highmark.com.

About IAGNOSIS, Inc.

IAGNOSIS, Inc., based in  McMurray PA , is a leader in innovative skin care solutions for patients and dermatologists. Their flagship product DermatologistOnCall^®, is a  "virtual" express care platform that uses the best of intelligent medicine, technology, and workflow to deliver vastly improved access and convenience to expert-directed skin care for patients with a broad base of skin conditions. For more information, visit www.iagnosis.com  

SOURCE Highmark Inc.