If you’re healthy, you want to stay healthy. If you’re dealing with a sudden, short-term illness, you want to get the information and treatment you need to get back to your old self. And if you’re facing a chronic (long-term) illness, you want to know how best to manage your condition.

That’s why we’ve created Blueprint for Health^® for Medicare Eligibles. It’s an action plan that goes beyond the notion of traditional service to help our members with personalized, caring solutions. We’ve packaged all our care and service programs to support who you are, where you live and what you need when you need it.

Dedicated professionals committed to working on your behalf can provide valuable information about:

• Health care services ordered by your doctors
• Health plan benefits
• Chronic conditions—like diabetes and heart failure—and how to manage them

But it doesn’t end there. Blueprint for Health brings with it a level of service you can depend on. Our customer advocates will support, encourage and guide you every step of the way so you can understand and access affordable, innovative health care options at just the right time and in just the right way. They will go the extra mile to help you find the resources you need—whether it’s a community program or a service like Meals on Wheels.

Whether healthy or dealing with health issues, you can take advantage of a Blueprint for Health program to help you make smarter health care decisions, enjoy better health outcomes and reduce your health care costs. These value-added services are offered at no additional cost to you.

Staying healthy through prevention
Our Blueprint for Health program can help you understand your health risks and the steps you can take to best improve your health. We offer:

• Awareness and education
• Health risk assessments
• BlueComplements^SM, offering an array of discounted products and value-added services, such as our vision program (see What's New, “Get vision care discounts with EyeMed”)

Support for understanding your options
As you get more actively involved in making decisions about your health care, you’re faced with choosing who will treat you and where, as well as what treatments are best for you. We can help ease some of the burden by providing the tools and services you need to:

• Find prescription drug information
• Choose the most qualified doctor and hospital for your needs
• Estimate your costs before your health care visit
• Avoid unnecessary costs
• Identify immediate, short-term and long-term actions you should take
• Understand your treatment options
• Expedite your member service

Helping you cope with chronic conditions
Dealing with the physical and emotional challenges of a long-term health condition isn’t easy. Coping with pain, following doctor’s orders and trying to prevent complications can be overwhelming. It helps to have someone knowledgeable who can act as your advocate. Blueprint for Health provides just that—your own personal health coach, a registered nurse who will make sure you are getting the best care and taking care of yourself in the best ways possible. It can mean the difference between you controlling the condition or your condition controlling you.

We offer support in two different ways:

• Disease Management programs specifically tailored to your condition, whether it be diabetes, asthma or congestive heart failure.
• Pharmacy programs to ensure dosage safety

“It isn’t every day an insurance [company] will go above and beyond what they are supposed to do. I...felt like I was truly the only customer at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida.”
—A BlueMedicare Rx customer

Urgent care support
An injury or the sudden onset of a health condition can change your health status overnight. When that happens, you need help to know the best way to get the care you need. Blueprint for Health offers the services of medical professionals to help you make the best choices for your situation. That includes making sure all your care is coordinated, so you can maximize your time and benefits and minimize unnecessary hassles.

It’s like having someone who really knows the ropes leading you through the health care process. That lets you concentrate on what’s most important—getting well. Our care coordinators offer:

• Health information
• Case management to maximize your benefits and the care you are receiving
• Hospital care coordination to manage your care while in the hospital and ensure a smooth transition when you are discharged
• Outreach to make sure you’re following your doctor’s treatment plan and aren’t experiencing a setback

I treat every customer as if they were a member of my family. I have an older father, and I would hope he gets taken care of in the same way.”
—Cynthia Fern, Service Advocate

Support for your doctors
Helping you is only part of the equation. We work closely with participating doctors and other health care providers to encourage the delivery of the best medicine, offering various programs and tools such as:

• A reward program for physicians who consistently provide the highest standard of care and service
• Patient safety information to make the health care you receive as safe as possible
• Secure access to your health claims records in order to have as complete a picture as possible of your personal medical history
• Cultural competence training to help eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health care treatment

www.bcbsfl.com

Blueprint for Health is all about you
Our members aren’t just contract numbers. They have real lives—real health problems. And they need real help. That’s why we created Blueprint for Health. Because your health insurance isn’t about us—it’s about you. Following are some of the many ways Blueprint for Health is played out through the everyday lives of our members.

In the nick of time
At a health fair sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, tests showed a gentleman had a very high fasting blood glucose level of 344, blood pressure of 102/92 and total cholesterol of 268. He was overweight with a body mass index at a high 35.6. He thought he was “pretty healthy.”

“The nurse told me I needed to see a doctor that day or I could wait and see one when the ambulance delivered me to the hospital over the weekend. Needless to say, this got my attention,” he says. The nurse called a doctor who saw him that morning. This gentleman got the treatment he needed and was put on a diet and exercise program. “I have lost 50 pounds and feel 20 years younger,” he says.

Improving quality of life
A woman who had been in and out of the hospital several times suffering from congestive heart failure (CHF) was identified through her claims history as a candidate for chronic condition support. A Health Options licensed registered nurse contacted her, providing information about CHF. This included the importance of following the doctor’s treatment plan, ways to self-manage the condition and improve her quality of life, and how to recognize early warning signs that need immediate attention. The nurse also spoke with her family members and put them in touch with community resources that could provide additional help. With the nurse’s regular follow up and encouragement, the member stayed on track with her treatment plan, resulting in fewer ER visits.

Going the extra mile
An elderly widower who came home from the hospital after surgery needed help cleaning his house.

He called Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida. The customer advocate explained that health benefits cover only medical services. But she didn’t leave it at that. The member couldn’t afford to pay for a housecleaning service, so the customer advocate called the member’s local chamber of commerce and found a volunteer organization to provide the service for free.