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 In Ohio, a new program called the Anthem Care Counselor
is educating and empowering members to take a more active
role in managing their own health. The Anthem Care Counselor
program puts highly skilled nurses in close touch with
participating members with complex and chronic illnesses.
The nurses coach members to follow their doctor’s treatment
plan; they call members to see how they’re doing, answering
questions and encouraging them to meet their individual
goals. Care Counselors also help members understand
and use their health benefits with Anthem, and assist
with other needs such as obtaining medical equipment
or in-home care.
The results clearly show better health for our members. Members
with diabetes learned how to better manage their condition
and stay healthier by getting annual eye and foot examinations,
measuring blood glucose daily and controlling their blood
pressure. Among heart failure patients, there was a 33 percent
increase in the number weighing themselves daily. This is
important because a sudden increase of 2 or 3 pounds can signal
a potential health problem.
 Harvard Medical School, through the Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Association’s BlueWorks program, recently praised Anthem Care
Counselor as an example of a program that’s helping improve
health and keep quality health care affordable. It’s also
generating a high level of customer satisfaction with members
giving the program an overall satisfaction rating of 97 out
of 100.
Similar to the Anthem Care Counselor is our StatusOne proactive
care management program, which works closely with our most
chronically ill members in Connecticut, Maine and New Hampshire.
The program has helped members improve their health, and significantly
reduced the need for hospitalization.
 Our other disease management programs are helping improve
member health as well. A study of nearly 80,000 patients by
Health Management Corporation, an Anthem subsidiary and leading
disease management firm, found patients enrolled in programs
for diabetes, asthma and coronary artery disease improved
their health while the overall cost of care for these members
was 11 percent less than for members not in the program.
How well we are meeting the needs of our members also is
reflected by independent measures of health care quality.
Health plans in eight of our states hold the highest accreditation
from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA),
the gold standard for health care accreditation.
We continue to improve our HEDIS® scores, which measure effectiveness
of care on key health concerns and on member satisfaction.
Our Connecticut health plan ranks in the top 10 nationally,
and our Colorado, Kentucky and Connecticut plans each are
among the top five in their respective regions.
Each success in one of our health care quality initiatives
is a real-life example of how we are improving the health
of the people we serve. | 
