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It's well known that today, overall healthcare costs in the U.S. continue to rise much faster than the rate of inflation -- but Robert Worthington, chief information officer of BlueCross Blue Shield of Tennessee, aims to change all that. This pioneer, risk taker, and cultural innovator has been working very hard to keep healthcare costs under control for the onslaught of baby boomers. His toolkit includes a mix of technology and processes to streamline such traditionally labor-intensive chores as claims processing. And, he's putting in place an innovative cultural environment that encourages employees to develop new products and better ways of doing things.

Worthington's mission has many facets. First, he's helping to transform the way Tennessee's largest health benefits company serves its 2.9 million enrollees, who work for companies such as Wal-Mart, Olan Mills, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the State of Tennessee. Second, he's helping to re-invent the way the healthcare industry has traditionally processed claims by eliminating many manual steps. Recently, Worthington's company made headlines when it created a subsidiary to make patient health records available electronically to emergency room physicians. And, he spearheaded development of a client-server core administration system that could handle 1.5 million members (most systems on the market could handle only 100,000 members).

Of course, weathering major shifts in a very conservative company and in a very conservative industry requires a lot of perseverance and forward thinking. Worthington possesses these qualities, and so does his company, which is not afraid to be an early adopter. For example, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee was the first BlueCross BlueShield Association member to offer interactive claims reporting to client companies via the Internet. Likewise, Worthington is helping to promote the company's innovation program, which provides a culture for employees to contribute their ideas for new products, ventures, and processes.

We invite you to sit back and listen to this mover-and-shaker CIO, Bob Worthington, as he talks about how his company is transforming itself to drive down the cost of healthcare through the application of technology.

Resources

"Managing the Requirements of Managed Care"

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee

Bio

Robert Worthington is senior vice president of business operations and CIO at BlueCross BlueShield of Chattanooga, Tennessee. He has been with been with the company since 1995. Previously, he held positions at Phillips Petroleum Company, California Vision Service Plan, Eskaton Health Corporation, and BlueCross BlueShield of Georgia. He has authored several technical articles for trade magazines, and has contributed a chapter, “The State of Management Information Systems,” for Milliman USA's underwriter/actuarial textbook. He served on the Applied Computer Science Advisory Committee for University of Georgia/Columbus College and the UTC-Chattanooga's Engineering and Computer Science Advisory Committee.

Production Credits

Elizabeth Ferrarini, Producer
Dana Farver, Executive Producer, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer, Show Host
Kimberly Stone, Web Development Manager
Scott Ebner, Web Developer