Anthem Blue Cross 2001 Annual Report Download - page 7

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 7 of the 2001 Anthem Blue Cross annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 72

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72

cooperation with others providing health benefits.
For example:
•Anthem Prescription Management addressed the
rising cost of prescription drugs through innovative
tiered pharmacy benefit programs that encourage
the use of drugs that are both clinically appropriate
and cost-effective.
•Our clinical efforts expanded under the leadership
of our chief medical officer. Our locally based
clinical staffs developed medical management
programs that promote better-quality, more
cost-effective health care.
•We remain committed to the Coalition for
Affordable Quality Healthcare, a cooperative
effort founded by 26 leading health insurers and
associations working to improve care, keep health
care affordable and simplify administration and
processes for customers and physicians.
We addressed a sometimes-chaotic
legislative and regulatory environment at the national
and state levels. Congress and state legislatures
debated proposed new mandates and regulations,
but large and small businesses are concerned that
these well-meaning efforts make it more difficult
care is an inherently local business and allows local
managers to retain control over functions that touch
customers directly. This consolidation strategy is
unique in our industry. As a result, we believe
Anthem is the most successful consolidator in the
health benefits industry.
To support our strategy, we continued
to make significant investments in our information
and operating systems. Systems consolidation
efforts are producing administrative cost reductions
and operating efficiencies. We expanded our
eBusiness capabilities and redesigned our website,
www.anthem.com, to serve as the gateway to
improved service and access to health information
for our customers. Equally important was our
progress in electronic commerce with physicians,
hospitals and brokers.
We were able to grow and improve
performance despite a national health care environment
that was challenging.
Significant health care cost increases were
driven by outpatient and inpatient hospital costs,
physician costs and the cost of and use of prescription
drugs. We enjoyed some success in addressing cost and
quality issues by focusing on them internally and in
5