MICHIGAN'S LARGEST HEALTH PLAN SELECTS VIPS' DATA WAREHOUSE DECISION SUPPORT SOLUTION

VIPS Healthcare Information Solutions has announced that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has licensed VIPS' data warehouse decision support product, MCSource.

When fully implemented, MCSource will build upon Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan's ability to improve health care quality for its 4.5 million members.

According to Jane Deane Clark, vice president of performance measurement for the Blues-affiliated Blue Care Network, says the HMO is very interested in enhancing its provider-reporting capabilities and, among other things, will use MCSource to facilitate several provider communications programs.

"VIPS is an active partner in our provider feedback initiatives, a key component of which is the use of MCSource to support our NCQA accreditation and disease management efforts," stated Clark. "We are currently discussing how we can use MCSource to maximize our efficiency, ensuring that patients with certain chronic conditions are receiving appropriate care."

MCSource incorporates several, industry standard clinical methodologies to support provider and population profiling initiatives. For provider profiling, MCSource uses Symmetry Health Data Systems, Inc.'s Episode Treatment Groups (ETGs), a clinically homogeneous, statistically reliable patient classification method.

For population profiling, DXCG, Inc.'s Diagnostic Cost Groups (DCGs) in MCSource provides health plans with a proven mechanism for understanding the relative health status of their members and predicting future use of health care services.

VIPS will be working with Blue Care Network as it designs a data warehouse that will provide a single source of information for the four Blue Care Network regions in Michigan that recently merged to form a single HMO, the state's largest.

Once implemented, MCSource will support all Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan lines of business -- Traditional Blue Cross, PPO, Point of Service, and Blue Care Network HMO -- as the corporation's medical data mart.

Jenny Morgan, president and CEO, VIPS stated, "We are very pleased that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan recognized the value of our people, technology, and organizational capabilities as integrators of complex health care information systems. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is growing its capacity to increase member satisfaction and boost overall plan performance, and we are delighted to be a part of its efforts. At the same time, the relationship reinforces VIPS' position as the market leader for high-volume, health care data warehousing decision support solutions."

"MCSource was selected because it provides the broadest set of applications available in one decision support product -- I believe it would add value to any managed care organization," said Ray Pyle, vice president and division information officer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

"We conducted a very rigorous evaluation of all viable managed care decision support products and chose MCSource for many reasons. We think VIPS will be a valuable long-term partner as we build an advanced, large-scale health care data warehousing system, which will help us transform raw data into useful information to improve health care delivery and quality. This competency in data warehousing is crucial to our implementation effort, which will feature a terabyte-plus warehouse when fully deployed," Pyle concluded.

MCSource provides health care business and financial analysts the power to access enriched, comprehensive stores of data, and use that data to perform numerous standard and ad hoc analyses. No programming knowledge is required to use the product, which features a Windows 95/NT interface with intuitive point-and-click commands.

Commenting on the functionality of MCSource, Tim Andrzejewski, director of business intelligence systems for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan said, "MCSource will allow medical management to more easily monitor the quality of health care provided to our customers. This emphasis will benefit HMO operations, further HEDIS and NCQA initiatives such as provider profiling, and support outcomes for disease prevention and quality measurement."

MCSource operates in an open client/server architecture that allows data and system resources to be shared throughout a managed care organization -- even over an Internet or Intranet connection. The product integrates a high-performance relational database with a robust data model bridging information from across the continuum of care.

The MCSource product suite is comprised of four applications: Profile Health -- for evaluating health care efficiency; Vital Statistics -- for HEDIS reporting and analysis; Population Profiler -- for understanding and predicting the impact of member health; and Clinical Guidelines -- for demonstrating quality of care and adherence to best practices.

VIPS Healthcare Information Solutions is a privately held, information technology company providing breakthrough software and services exclusively for the health care industry. VIPS solutions shrink the cost of processing and adjudicating claims, give decision-makers the power to deliver cost-effective, high quality care and benefits, and stop the financial drain of health care fraud.

For further information about VIPS, please visit the Internet at http://www.vips.com.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is nonprofit and the state's largest health care benefits corporation, with more than 4.5 million members. The Blues offer a broad array of products including Traditional Blue Cross Blue Shield, Blue Care Network HMO, Blue Choice POS, and Blue Preferred and Community Blue PPOs, plus dental, hearing, and vision coverage.

For more information about Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, please visit the Internet at http://www.bcbsm.com.