THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., Sept. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Cross of California (Blue Cross) was placed on the "Summit Honor Roll" today at the Governor's Summit on Health, Nutrition and Obesity in Sacramento for its commitment to fighting obesity in California. The Honor Roll recognizes organizations that responded to a call from the Governor to address California's obesity epidemic with new and innovative initiatives to improve overall health outcomes.
At the Summit, Blue Cross President and CEO David Helwig announced the company's $9 million commitment over the next three years to fund new and ongoing programs aimed at addressing the obesity issue in California, with an emphasis on childhood obesity prevention. These programs are designed to help empower physicians, parents, school districts, community leaders and organizations, as well as children, to adopt healthier lifestyles through better nutrition, increased physical activity and innovative disease management programs.
"Blue Cross of California is proud to be a part of the Governor's efforts to curb the escalating problem of obesity in California," said Helwig. "Empowering our members to adopt healthy lifestyles for themselves and their families continues to be a top priority for our company. We are committed to using our resources and working with the State's health care leaders to Get California Healthy."
As part of its efforts, Blue Cross has developed a comprehensive program of resource materials and programs to educate and empower diverse Californians. These include:
* American Heart Association Partnership - Blue Cross sponsorship of the Jump Rope for Heart program designed to reach more than 1.9 million elementary school-aged children in California. Blue Cross will print "Healthy Habits for Healthy Hearts" booklets in English and Spanish and make them available free of charge to all participating California schools.
* "Kids in Charge of Kalories"(KICK) - an innovative disease management program aimed at children and their families in order to promote healthy eating habits and physical activity.
* Parents' Action for Children/Rob Reiner Foundation/National PTA Partnership - Blue Cross partnership to jointly distribute the "Childhood Obesity Video" to 26,000 PTA chapters.
* American Dietetic Association Partnership - Blue Cross partnership to develop a bilingual (English/Spanish) print and Web-based nutrition and activity guide for parents, "Healthy Habits for Healthy Kids" and "Get Up and Get Moving!" family workbooks (English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Russian) to help families create a healthy home environment.
* Physician Reference Tools - including an online medical education program for physicians to address prevention, detection, assessment and management of childhood obesity and a Physician Desktop Obesity Reference tool.
Blue Cross' investment is part of a coordinated three-year commitment by 35 health plans within the California Association of Health Plans (CAHP) to collectively reach 21 million Californians with programs geared toward curbing obesity. As part of this commitment, the CAHP will create and distribute Provider Tool Kits to assist physicians. These kits will include a targeted program for them to document and report Body Mass Index in medical records; provide disease management programs focused on issues of obesity and overweight; develop member incentives, education and outreach programs; and develop measurements to assess statewide progress in battling obesity.
Blue Cross of California is one of the state's largest health insurers and together with its California affiliate, BC Life & Health Insurance Company, the company serves more than 7.6 million medical members. Headquartered in Southern California, Blue Cross of California offers a flexible product portfolio with a broad range of options for small, medium and large groups, as well as individual plans for people without access to group coverage, seniors and consumers who are eligible for state sponsored programs. Blue Cross of California is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Association and can be found on the web at http://www.bluecrossca.com .
Blue Cross of CaliforniaCONTACT: Robert Alaniz of WellPoint, +1-805-557-6789,robert.alaniz@wellpoint.com
Web site: http://www.bluecrossca.com/
