Past Issues

After last week’s horrific events at the World Trade Center, Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield announced it is fully operational.

Many times, members seeing more than one physician can receive prescriptions from each that are conflicting, duplicative or have the potential for misuse.

Medical mistakes make compelling and frightening headlines. News stories tend to focus on sensational and isolated events, but studies show that medical mistakes happen more frequently than medical professionals and the public would like to believe.

The Preferred Medication List for three-tier pharmacy benefit plans is updated quarterly.

Last year Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida collaborated with the University of Florida to identify indicators for preventable drug-related morbidity in our member population.

The 1999 Institute of Medicine Report, “To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System,” noted that medication mistakes are a significant source of preventable medical errors.

You should have received a copy of our new "Front-End Edits Reference Manual," which was mailed to providers last month.

The use of a series of exercise programs supervised by exercise physiologists or nurses (93668) for the treatment of leg pain upon walking (intermittent claudication) is not eligible for coverage.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida's BlueNews seminars for PPO and Traditional physician office staff, as well as hospital and ancillary provider staff, continue this month.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida’a HMO subsidiary, Health Options, has a policy on financial incentives with respect to coverage and benefit payment decisions.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida responds to changing consumer and market needs by developing new health plans and programs for our members and assessing our current product portfolio.

The CDC reports that some delays in influenza vaccine availability are projected early in the upcoming flu season due to a reduction in the number of licensed U.S. manufacturers. At the same time, demand for vaccine is expected to rise because of increased awareness of its benefits and the attention given to the shortage during the past flu season.

The BlueCard program enables members to receive the same health care benefits available through their own Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield plan while traveling or living outside of their plan's area and to access participating providers nationally.

To simplify the claims filing process, file claims to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida for members whose coverage is with another Blue plan and whose contract number includes an alpha prefix–even when there is no BlueCard logo (see exceptions below).

Have you ever had patients ask you what products Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida offers members who are over 65? If so, let them know that we offer a full array of Medicare supplement products to fit their health insurance coverage needs.

For a complete BlueCard Program Guide, visit our website at: www.bcbsfl.com/misc/reference_tools/ BlueCardProvGde1_01.PDF.

Did you know that we have a section on the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida website at www.bcbsfl.com just for providers?