News Releases

Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa and Wellmark Health Plan of Iowa, Inc. Offer Innovative Solutions to Promote Improved Health and Productivity

Contact:
Angela Feig
515.245.4551
feigab@wellmark.com

Gary Peterson
515.245.4980
petersongm@wellmark.com

(Des Moines, Iowa) –  Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa and Wellmark Health Plan of Iowa, Inc., are introducing a suite of programs and services designed to help employer customers manage the health risk of their employees and individual members to lead healthier, more productive lives. 

Wellmark’s innovative approach to wellness and health management – called Whole Health Dimensions^SM – combines Wellmark’s focus on health improvement with its comprehensive data-mining capabilities and collaborative provider relationships. Members will be encouraged to establish a medical home with their health care provider and take a more active role in managing their health through an array of services. The following services are designed to help members identify their health risks and to set and achieve their goals:

• Decision-support tools including 24/7 phone services to help members navigate the health care system and receive answers from a nurse about their health care questions
• Wellness programs including an online health assessment, Web-based tools, on-site wellness screenings, telephonic health coaching, and on-site program delivery
• Consultative services to help companies plan and design health-management strategies based on their unique situations and needs
• More robust disease management, pregnancy care, utilization management, and case management programs

“Helping our members live healthier lifestyles is a top priority for Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield,” says Dale Andringa, M.D., chief medical officer. “Our research supports the approach we are taking with Whole Health Dimensions because it facilitates the patient/clinician relationship and encourages the member to establish a medical home and helps encourage improved health and productivity.”

The ultimate goal is to redefine Wellmark’s working relationship with network clinicians in a way that supports the medical home concept – patient-focused, clinician-directed and Wellmark-supported.

Wellmark spent the better part of 2007 preparing for the launch of Whole Health Dimensions’ programs and services with a special focus on building wellness solutions that help companies keep their employees healthy and prevent or delay chronic illnesses such as diabetes or heart disease. 

“With the introduction of our new Community Wellness programs, we will be meeting the needs of our customers who are asking for strategies to improve employee health, address rising health care costs, and ultimately, increase productivity through reduced absenteeism and presenteeism,” says Jill Norris, director of Lifestyle Management at Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield. “What makes Wellmark’s solution so unique is how the programs can be delivered with various degrees of intensity to meet the individual needs of all members. And because the programs are integrated, members will be able to move easily from one program to another program as their health situations change.”

Norris, who joined Wellmark in early 2007 to lead Wellmark’s wellness and consultative services efforts, says more and more research is showing the correlation between the impact of strategic health management and wellness programs on health and productivity.

“Companies are realizing that presenteeism – where employees come to work but lack the ability to focus or do their job effectively – has huge hidden costs,” Norris says. “Think of presenteeism as an iceberg. With an iceberg, the most damaging parts are often hidden under water. The same is true of presenteeism and the impact on business performance.”

According to D.W. Edington, Ph.D., director of the University of Michigan Health Management Research Center, presenteeism accounts for 63 percent of indirect medical costs, compared to 6 percent for absenteeism and short-term disability and 1 percent for long-term disability. Edington is collaborating with Wellmark to establish scientific-based protocols to measure the success of its health management solutions.

“By providing resources for the total population, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield is bringing a very strong and comprehensive strategy to the marketplace,” Edington says. “When you combine Wellmark’s full suite of services with its medical home concept, Wellmark is demonstrating a unique and innovative approach that ties together all dimensions of an integrated population health management solution.”

Wellmark is introducing the full suite of Whole Health Dimensions solutions to its fully insured group and individual customers throughout 2008. Whole Health Dimensions is also available to self-insured groups and their members. Already, a number of these self-funded employer groups are implementing these solutions for more than 125,000 employees and their families.

Small group employers will be able to avail themselves of the Whole Health Dimensions’ Community Wellness program, a personal, “feet-on-the-street” approach to wellness, designed to build momentum for health promotion at the local level. Wellmark’s Community Wellness program promotes wellness programs to businesses as a way to increase productivity and help control health care costs. 

Community Wellness Coordinators will work with local employers to connect them to resources available from Wellmark, its vendors, and community/public outlets as well as seminars on best practices in successfully implementing wellness programs at the worksite. Since people spend so much time at work, wellness programs supported by employers can have a strong influence on lifestyle choices. 

Wellmark Health Management Consultants will be able to assist businesses in establishing and targeting their health management goals and develop wellness practices that are reflective of their needs, as well as provide employer training on worksite wellness and leadership in developing results-oriented health promotion initiatives.

In addition to Wellmark’s Whole Health Dimensions’ program, Wellmark and the Iowa Farm Bureau have joined forces to bring a statewide, comprehensive wellness program to individual policyholders at a personal and local level. 

The pilot program provides professional health coaches and a range of health care resources designed to improve the health and well-being of Farm Bureau members who have purchased their Wellmark health insurance through Farm Bureau agents.

The innovative pilot program differentiates the Wellmark health plans offered through Farm Bureau insurance agents and is poised to become a national model for a holistic approach to wellness services within communities for the individual market. 

Wellmark, Inc. (www.wellmark.com ) does business as Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa. Wellmark and its subsidiaries and affiliated companies, including Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Dakota and Wellmark Health Plan of Iowa, Inc., insure or pay health benefit claims for more than two million members in Iowa and South Dakota. Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Dakota, and Wellmark Health Plan of Iowa, Inc. are independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

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Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield is an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Blue Cross®, Blue Shield®, and the Cross® and Shield® symbols are registered marks of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an Association of Independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans.