Ohio Blue Cross Quotes Anthem Quotes Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Ohio Launches Zagat Health Survey Tool in Greater Cincinnati and DaytonMembers to Use Survey to Rate Physician Experiences CINCINNATI, Jan. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Anthem Blue Cross and BlueShield in Ohio today announced the launch of the Zagat Health Survey tool, a new online survey tool that will allow consumers to share their physician experiences with others in the greater Cincinnati and Dayton markets. The survey tool is now available to members in these cities enrolled in the company's Lumenos consumer driven health plans and will be available to all members in these locations at the end of the first quarter of 2008. Anthem will continue to progressively introduce this tool across all of Ohio."Zagat is widely known and trusted for its ability to help people share and learn from other consumer experiences. By working with them we are able to create a trusted resource for consumers and actively engage consumers in sharing and using that information," said Chuck Slater, president of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Ohio. "Consumer experience information, such as that enabled by the Zagat Health Survey tool, complements our Care Comparison tool and other resources that make clinical quality and cost transparent for consumers."Through its relationship with Zagat, Anthem is helping to address an unmet need for peer-to-peer interaction among health care consumers. The new survey tool will provide a vehicle for members to review and evaluate physicians based on a set of distinct criteria, creating a trusted resource to support informed member decision-making. "Honest and constructive feedback about things such as communications skills and whether a patient trusts his/her doctor is something that all physicians should welcome hearing," said Stephen Pleatman, M.D., a pediatrician with Suburban Pediatrics in Mason, Ohio. "We need to know whether we are meeting the needs of our patients and whether we are doing a good job. Patient satisfaction tools such as this can certainly help provide thatinformation. "Consumers will be able to review their doctor visits based on: -- Trust -- Communication -- Availability -- Environment In addition, the survey will feature a comments section, allowing members to expand on their ratings. These categories are solely designed to reflect a consumer's experience with a physician and not to reflect the quality of care received. The survey and results will be available free of charge to members via their health plan's Web site. For each network physician, the online entry will display contact information, ratings on a 30-point scale for each of the four categories, and the percentage of members who recommend that physician. The most recent comments will be displayed first, and members will have the option to rate the usefulness of comments and report suspicious comments."Anthem is committed to providing its members with the data and tools necessary to help them take a more active role in their health care decision making," said Slater. "With this tool,Anthem is helping to give consumers theability to make informed decisions about selecting doctors based on other people's experiences, in a format that is familiar, easy to understand and meaningful. "About Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Ohio Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Ohio is a subsidiary of WellPoint,Inc.WellPoint's mission is to improve the lives of the people it serves and the health of its communities. WellPoint, Inc. is the largest health benefits company in terms of commercial membership in the United States. Through its access to nationwide networks, the company delivers a number of leading healthbenefit solutions through a broad portfolio of integrated health care plans and related services, along with a wide range of specialty products such as life and disability insurance benefits, pharmacy benefit management, dental,vision, behavioral health benefit services, as well as long term care insurance and flexible spending accounts. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, WellPoint is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and serves its members as the Blue Cross licensee for California; the Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensee for Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri (excluding 30 counties in the Kansas City area), Nevada, New Hampshire, New York (as Blue Cross Blue Shield in 10 New York City metropolitan and surrounding counties and as Blue Cross or Blue Cross Blue Shield in selected upstate counties only), Ohio, Virginia excluding the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.) , Wisconsin; and through UniCare. Life and disability products are underwritten by Anthem Life Insurance Company, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Additional information about WellPoint is available at www.wellpoint.com. About Zagat Survey, LLC Known as the "wildly popular" "burgundy bible", Zagat Survey is the world's most trusted source for information about where to eat, drink, stay and play. With more than 300,000 surveyors, Zagat Survey rates and reviews restaurants, hotels, nightlife, movies, music, golf, shopping and a range of other entertainment categories and is lauded as the "most up-to-date", "comprehensive" and "reliable" guide ever published. Zagat content is available to consumers wherever and whenever they need it: in book format, on ZAGAT.com, via the downloadable ZAGAT TO GO for smartphones and on the mobile web with ZAGAT.mobi. For more information, visit ZAGAT.com SOURCE Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Ohio original story
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