BOSTON– Abacus Insights has partnered with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (“Blue Cross”) to launch a new data strategy centered around exceptional consumer experiences and innovation in care and outcomes. Working together, Abacus Insights and Blue Cross have achieved a significant milestone by delivering updated data to members, providers, and business units in 15 minutes or less—down from 8 to 24 hours earlier this year and as long as one week in 2021. This latest achievement in data transformation encompasses Blue Cross’ mission-critical objectives, including unparalleled member experiences, quality, equity, and affordability.
“Having the right data at the right time for our members, our employees, our clinical partners, and other stakeholders is fundamental to making major progress on care, costs, and outcomes. It’s also essential for putting members at the center of health care and enhancing member satisfaction,” said Richard Lynch, Blue Cross’ chief operating officer.
With 2.9 million members, BCBSMA is the state’s largest private health plan and one of the largest independent, not-for-profit Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in the country.
Abacus Insights is pursuing this data strategy with Blue Cross to ensure health care data is usable for any operational and analytical needs. Usable health data is accurate, current, and complete, and available when and how it is needed. Built for payers to ensure cutting-edge tech currency, Abacus Insight’s multi-cloud, modular technology has achieved the breakthrough in delivering near-real-time data updates.
“We are building the data and technology foundation to support our enterprise goals of bending care and cost curves at an industry-leading level. Closing the gap between data updates is an important milestone as we work to ensure our members have better experiences and care,” said Vicki Hildebrand, Blue Cross’ chief information officer.
“Health care transformation is impossible to achieve without the right data to fuel needed change, and payer technology teams are at the forefront of this responsibility. We are pleased to join BCBSMA in its ambitious journey to unleash the power of data by making it usable for core business needs in support of their members,” said Minal Patel, MD, Abacus Insights CEO.
For BCBSMA, data latency has important consequences for both member and clinician experience and operating effectiveness. The health plan now receives claims data for financial reconciliation within 8 hours compared to one week. Members and clinicians can access updated enrollment information in 15 minutes at the latest, ensuring no delay in necessary care.
“It’s critical to put the best information in the hands of our stakeholders, from members to case managers to accounting staff, at the point and time of need,” said Prem Somasundaram, Blue Cross’ chief technology officer.
Blue Cross and Abacus Insights continue to collaborate on enhancing data usability to support the health plan’s enterprise goals. With deep payer business experience and superior technology and talent, Abacus Insights has created a full data hub for Blue Cross while automating time-intensive manual data processes. The Abacus platform installation at Blue Cross uses AWS cloud services along with Snowflake and Databricks modules. The technology is compliant with SOC 2 Type 2, HITRUST, HL7 FHIR, and NIST Cybersecurity Framework.
