National Health Technology Group Recognizes S.C. BlueCross Contributions To Reduce Costs

November 28, 2011

COLUMBIA, SC – November 22, 2011 –  The Workgroup for Electronic DataInterchange (WEDI), a health care industry coalition working to reduceadministrative costs through electronic commerce, recognized twoBlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina employees with awards at itsrecent fall conference.

Jim Daley, risk and compliance director in BlueCross’ informationsystems department, received the WEDI Chairman’s Award for exceptionalleadership and commitment to the advancement of WEDI initiatives. Daley,chairman-elect of WEDI, is leading its initiative on ICD-10. This is anindustry wide revision of medical codes that will allow for moredetailed and accurate recording of health conditions and treatments,including some 141,000 total codes compared with the current 24,000.

Craig Gabron, a senior client advocate in BlueCross’ information systemsdepartment, won an Award of Merit for his work co-chairing the group’sefforts to educate the industry on electronic claims attachments. Thegoal is to provide possible implementation approaches and to assist withadoption of a new federal rule when it becomes final. Enactment of thefederal claims attachment standard, under the Patient Protection andAffordable Care Act, is intended to facilitate more efficient processingof electronic claims and with less overhead cost.

WEDI (www.wedi.org)officials presented the awards at a conference it hosted in Baltimorerecently attended by more than 400 industry and governmentrepresentatives.

 

About BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina
Headquartered in Columbia, S.C., and operating in South Carolina for nearly 65 years, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina (www.SouthCarolinaBlues.com)is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue ShieldAssociation. The only South Carolina-owned and operated health insurancecarrier, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina comprises more than 45companies involved in health insurance services, U.S. DoD health programand Medicare contracts, other insurance and employee benefits services,and a philanthropic foundation that funds programs to improve healthcare and access to health care for South Carolinians.