Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas Teams-Up with TMF Health Quality
Institute to Improve Health Care in Texas

For Immediate Release

(September 22, 2006-AUSTIN, TX)- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas and TMF Health Quality Institute® have joined together to raise awareness about the importance of cultural competency in health care in Texas.

"Cultural competency refers to the knowledge-based skills required to provide effective clinical care to all patients," said Abraham Delgado, MD, FACP, TMF medical director. This involves being sensitive to a patient's language barriers, health beliefs about disease and treatment options, personal space, nonverbal signals and religion.

Under a contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, TMF is providing cultural competency training to Texas physicians and their staff through a free Internet-based course. "This online course is designed to provide physicians and their staff with the right tools to treat our increasingly diverse patient population," said Delgado.

"We applaud TMF's efforts in providing Texas physicians with this training," said Paul Handel, MD, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas vice president and chief medical officer. "Through this training opportunity, physicians will receive information and skills that will help them provide the best possible care to all patients regardless of their ethnic or cultural background."

Blue Cross will promote and encourage member physicians to take the course. "We are constantly evaluating ways to help our members receive the best care possible," said Handel. "Taking advantage of the knowledge they will learn in the TMF course will empower our network of physicians to provide an even more skillful level of care."

Physicians enrolling in the free course will receive nine continuing education credits, free consultative services, including materials and resources, and a reduction in liability insurance.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas joins the Texas Academy of Family Physicians, Texas Medical Association and Texas Academy of Internal Medicine in their support and commitment to TMF's cultural competency program.

Access the free course or learn more information.

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About TMF Health Quality Institute
TMF Health Quality Institute, formerly Texas Medical Foundation, is an Austin, Texas-based nonprofit consulting company focused on promoting quality health and health care through contracts with federal, state and local governments, as well as private organizations. TMF  partners with health care providers in a variety of settings to ensure that every person receives the appropriate care, every time.

About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas is the only statewide, non-investor owned health coverage provider in Texas, serving nearly 3.3 million members in all 254 counties.  Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas is a division of Health Care Service Corporation, a Mutual Legal Reserve Company, an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

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