Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon and HeartMasters Partner to Provide Disease Management Services for Members

Business Wire, May 3, 2000

Business/News Editors

PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 3, 2000

Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon (Regence BCBSO) has partnered with LifeMasters(R) Supported SelfCare(SM), Inc. and Interactive Heart Management Corporation (IHMC) to enable subscribers with high-risk medical conditions to monitor their health using a convenient new technology.

Regence BCBSO will begin offering the HeartMasters Web-based health management program for coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure to a segment of our insured population. Developed by LifeMasters and IHMC, the program is a convenient, cost-efficient approach to monitor patients electronically, and to promote early intervention should a medical problem arise. The program is limited to members with a history of Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), coronary artery disease (CAD), and diabetes, or members at high risk for CAD.

The LifeMasters' secure Internet- and telephone-based care programs provide individualized clinical feedback based upon the participant's daily input of vital sign and symptoms data. To use this service, the participant must have access to the Internet or a touch-tone phone. Either the participant logs onto the web site, www.lifemasters.net, or calls a toll-free number to access the interactive telephone system. They are then asked to enter information from their medical insurance ID card, and complete the process by following a series of prompts. The participant enters information such as blood pressure, weight, and cholesterol or insulin levels. The information is analyzed against physician-set thresholds by the HeartMasters database. If the data falls above or below the physician-set threshold, a LifeMasters nurse will notify both the patient and their physician immediately. As part of the program, nurses regularly call patients to discuss their progress, health status, provide coaching, and notify the physician whenever medical intervention is required. Patients will receive a call from the nurse if they fail to enter their data by an agreed upon date.

HeartMasters will provide regular individualized status reports of high-risk patients to Regence BCBSO participating physicians. The availability of timely clinical information allows our physicians to intervene early. Regence BCBSO physicians will receive the education and support needed to fully participate and utilize the HeartMasters Program.

Donald Thieman, Vice President and Medical Director said, "We applaud the value the HeartMasters Program brings to our members as well as our purchasers in improving the health status of high risk individuals." Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon plans to expand the HeartMasters Program to selected HMO plan members in 2001.

LifeMasters, based in Newport Beach and South San Francisco, California provides health management services that improve patient outcomes and reduces medical costs by empowering individuals to monitor their own health conditions in partnership with health care professionals. Other health plans in the community are interested in HeartMasters and the disease management programs they offer.

Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon is the largest health insurer in Oregon and Southwest Washington with over one million subscribers.