New Jersey

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey is offering a new Medicae Advantage Plan that has lower out-of-pocket costs and more coordinated care when members choose doctors in Horizon's network of patient-centered practices, the largest such network in New Jersey.

Trying to save money in health care isn’t new to Sandra Siegel, RN. A nurse with 30 years’ experience, she remembers working for a managed care company in the ’90s doing precertifications and checking hospital stays.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield wants to get more providers, insured members to sign up for coverage in which ‘care coordinators’ work with patients. Citing improved healthcare for about 200,000 patients, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey is trying to get more insured members and healthcare providers to participate in reforms aimed at improving coordination and bolstering preventive care.

New study findings released today confirm that Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey’s patient-centered program is working to improve the coordination of care and lower costs. The 2013 patient-centered study is the largest to date and includes more than 200,000 Horizon BCBSNJ members. Patient-centered care is an innovative approach that focuses on delivering better quality outcomes, a better patient experience and lowering the cost of care.

Health insurers are experimenting with new formulas for reimbursing doctors and hospitals, slowly moving away from the traditional approach of basing payments on the numbers of tests and procedures performed, according to a survey of Blue Cross insurers, among the most dominant plans in the country. The survey, released on Wednesday by the plans’ trade association, estimates that $1 out of every $5 in reimbursements is being paid under an arrangement in which providers are rewarded for improving care and lowering costs.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey has launched two health-care plans aimed at small businesses with two to 50 employees, and the state's largest health insurer says the plans offer lower costs thanks to savings from its patient-centered-care program.

Small employers struggle to pay rising health insurance bills, year after year — but this year could be different. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey is rolling out two new plans that cut premiums 15 percent and waive deductibles if small employers and their workers get their care from Horizon’s network of 3,700 “patient-centered” doctors. Those doctors are working with the state’s largest health insurer to lower costs and keep patients healthy and out of the hospital.