Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas Producing Electronic Patient Clinical Summaries to Help Health Care Providers Treat Hurricane Rita Evacuees

Emergency Officials Estimate Thousands of Evacuees May be Kept from Home for a Month

Richardson, Texas – Sept. 26, 2005 – In a first for the health insurance industry, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX) has developed electronic patient clinical summaries for its health plan members displaced by Hurricane Rita so that health care providers across Texas can have access to up-to-date treatment information and be able to give the most appropriate care. It is estimated that thousands of Hurricane Rita evacuees in Southeast Texas will be unable to return home for as long as a month.

Texas Medical Association is assisting with the patient clinical summary project. MEDecision is providing the technological support for the initiative.

“We want to ensure that our members who are unable to return home because of Hurricane Rita have an opportunity to receive the best care and treatment possible, regardless of where in Texas they found shelter from the storm,” said Pat Hemingway Hall, President, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas. “Health care provider access to specific patient clinical information will greatly aid the efforts of physicians and hospitals treating Blue Cross and Blue Shield members they’ve never seen before.”

“The Texas Medical Association is working with BCBSTX to alert physicians across the state that this information is available,” said TMA President Robert T. Gunby Jr., M.D. “Physicians who need access to these records should call BCBSTX Medical Care Management at 800-441-9188 and ask to speak to a Hurricane Rita Response Team member.”

BCBSTX members displaced by Hurricane Rita should contact BCBSTX customer service at the 800-521-2227 for additional information about meeting their health care needs.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas is the only statewide, non-investor owned health coverage provider in Texas, serving more than 4 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.