We opened our seventh Florida Blue center in Fort Myers, in the Coconut Point shopping area. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Inc. (BCBSF) has already introduced stores in Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, Winter Park and Pensacola. Florida Blue retail centers focus on helping consumers understand their health care coverage options, while providing personal support for health and wellness care.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Inc. (BCBSF) proudly hosted a Patient Centered Medical Home transformation and recognition training session on November 18, 2011 at our Deerwood Campus Conference Center.

Effective September 1, 2011, CareCentrix, Inc. became the preferred provider for home health, home infusion, ambulatory infusion suites, durable medical equipment, medical supplies and orthotic/prosthetic services for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Inc. (BCBSF.) and its HMO subsidiary, Health Options, Inc. CareCentrix provides utilization services and a home health care and equipment services provider network for BCBSF members who require equipment and services in the home.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock over the past 12 months, you know that the current federally mandated HIPAA standard covered Electronic Data Interchange transactions (EDI) and medical code sets (ICD-9) are changing. The ANSI 4010A1 version of EDI transactions are antiquated and are being updated to correct existing technical inaccuracies and accommodate major revisions to ICD-9 diagnosis and procedure codes which will result in a tenth ICD revision (ICD-10).

New Directions Behavioral Health will be the preferred provider for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Inc. (BCBSF) and Health Options, Inc. for behavioral health capabilities and programs and will manage behavioral health services for most members.