BLUE BELL, Pa., and HELENA, Mont., Oct. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Health Advocate, Inc., the nation’s leading healthcare advocacy and assistance company, announced that it has entered into an agreement with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana (BCBSMT) to offer its innovative value-added service to BCBSMT employees. In 2005, the Health Advocate service will be offered to BCBSMT clients throughout Montana making BCBSMT the first Blues plan in the nation to offer an independent advocacy service like Health Advocate to its clients.
BCBSMT employees and their families will have unlimited access to Health Advocate’s trained staff of Personal Health Advocates, who will help members more easily navigate the healthcare system by providing assistance with a wide range of medical and administrative issues. Designed to save clients both time and money, the program helps individuals get the most value from their healthcare benefits. An especially innovative feature of the program is coverage for employees’ parents and parents-in-laws in addition to their spouse and dependent children.
“We are excited to work with Health Advocate to take the lead in offering an independent advocacy program. In an era where consumers want to be more directly involved in their own healthcare and get the most from it, Health Advocate is the perfect support service, given its expertise and personalized approach to helping individuals,” said Peter J. Babin, Chairman, President and CEO of BCBSMT.
“It is a great opportunity for Health Advocate to partner with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana to bring our personalized advocacy services to their clients. BCBSMT, who enjoys a reputation for excellence and innovation, brings significant expertise to our collaborate effort to better serve healthcare consumers,” said Abbie Leibowitz, M.D., co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Health Advocate, Inc.
Health Advocate offers a broad array of services that complement the benefits a health plan offers its members. Personal Health Advocates, professionally trained registered nurses supported by a team of medical directors and administrative experts, help members identify qualified specialists for complex medical problems and best-in-class medical institutions; help coordinate care; and offer members help accessing community resources including senior care services for their parents that fall outside traditional health insurance coverage.
About Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, is Montana’s leading health services corporation. Headquartered in Helena, MT, it serves more than 240,000 members and over 140,000 Medicare recipients. Its provider network consists of partnerships with more than 1,700 licensed Montana physicians, 56 hospitals, and 2,100 allied healthcare professionals. More information can be obtained at http://www.bluecrossmontana.com/.
About Health Advocate, Inc.
Health Advocate was founded to help Americans deal with many of the problems they routinely encounter when accessing the healthcare system. Through its relationships with more than 500+ employers, unions, third-party administrators, insurers, and other organizations both large and small, nationwide, Health Advocate offers over 1.5 million Americans a broad spectrum of time- and money-saving advocacy and assistance solutions to help them more easily navigate the complexities of the healthcare system. Health Advocate has received widespread recognition for its work having been featured on the CBS Evening News, NBC 10 TV, and in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer and a range of other publications. The company is headquartered in suburban Philadelphia. More information can be found at http://www.healthadvocate.com/.
Contact: Carol Fischer Health Advocate, Inc. 610-397-6972 (direct) 866-695-8622 (toll-free) cfischer@HealthAdvocate.com
Health Advocate, Inc.
CONTACT: Carol Fischer, Health Advocate, Inc., +1-610-397-6972,+1-215-206-9480 (cell), +1-866-695-8622, cfischer@HealthAdvocate.com; or LindaMcGillen, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana, +1-406-444-8931, +1-800-447-7828,lmcgillen@bcbsmt.com
Web site: http://www.bluecrossmontana.com/
Web site: http://www.healthadvocate.com/