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Telehealth Use Spikes Amongst Commercially Insured Individuals During the Pandemic, but a Digital Divide Remains

In Blog by BHI

BHI co-authored a recently published study in JAMA Network Open that found almost 24% of privately insured working-age individuals used telehealth for outpatient care in the early phase of the pandemic compared to just 0.3% during the same time in 2019. However, persons living in areas with limited social resources were significantly less likely to use telehealth, suggesting barriers to …

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Suspected and Actual Infant Child Abuse Cases Increase During the Pandemic, According to Medical Encounter Data

In Blog by BHI

New findings by BHI add to the increasing evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to contain it have taken a terrible toll on children.  In the interest of understanding the pandemic’s impact on children, BHI examined pediatric trends for 2020. We found that in the previous year, the trend in the cost of an ED visit for children under …

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Top Five Ways COVID-19 has Changed Employers’ Approach to Health Benefits

In Blog by Mary Henderson, PhD, Executive Vice President, Sales and Product Innovation

After more than a year of dealing with the ramifications of COVID-19, employers anticipate feeling the impact of the pandemic for years to come. The past 14 months have changed our interactions with and our assumptions about work. They’ve also changed what employers and employees expect of each other. Additionally, COVID-19 has surfaced some truths about the way employers approach …

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Advisory Council Explores COVID-19’s Impact on Commercial Health Insurance Coverage

In Blog by BHI

BHI’s Advisory Council members kicked off their research projects this year and in one COVID-19-focused effort, found that research often adds value through counterintuitive findings. BHI Advisory Council members Michael Chernew, PhD, of Harvard University and Vivian Ho, PhD, of Rice University have been looking specifically at COVID’s impact on Blue health insurance disenrollment rates and how the pandemic has …

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Transparent, Meaningful Physician Performance Metrics

In Blog by BHI

Last year, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana (BCBSLA) set out to share actionable, credible, and accurate cost and quality reports with providers. BHI has been partnering with the Plan since March 2020 to design and implement such reports for practitioners in BCBSLA’s Specialty Care Insights program. In delivering enhanced “Provider Index” reports, BCBSLA utilizes BHI’s proprietary Episode of …

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Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning — What is the Difference and Why it Matters

In Blog by BHI

By Russ Michael, senior director, Methodology and Data Science, Blue Health Intelligence® (BHI®) Artificial intelligence (AI)-driven technologies are increasingly prevalent in all parts of our lives, including healthcare and health insurance. The pace of change in healthcare AI and data analytics has been breathtaking, as new products and technologies promise to improve quality, reduce costs, and help health plans better …

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Care Analytics News profiles BHI’s Dr. Russ Robbins

In Blog by BHI

“When I left private practice, there was no way to learn other than on the job,” Robbins says. “Now, there are many good healthcare informatics programs. I tell younger colleagues to have some experience of clinical medicine before going into the business side. My knowledge of direct patient care has helped me understand the data and what is or isn’t …

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Bringing Women Back to Breast Cancer Screening, Safely and Seamlessly

In Blog by BHI

A year ago, Thrive Earlier Detection (Thrive) won the BlueCross BlueShield Data Innovation Challenge. Healthbox, a HIMSS solution company, collaborated with the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and Blue Health Intelligence® (BHI®) to implement that contest. As oncologists gather this week for the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), Healthbox shares recent independent insights from Thrive about breast cancer screening and …

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Wearables at work and privacy concerns

In Blog by BHI

BHI’s senior vice president of product management and business development, Mary Henderson, is quoted in a recent BBC Worklife article on the rise of employee health tracking via wearable devices. BBC’s full Q&A with Henderson and Sanket Shah, BHI’s assistant vice president for account management, is featured below. BBC Worklife: We’ve seen interest from various corporations (particularly in the U.S.) …