Anthem Runs Online Chat Around HCR

The health insurer opened HealthyChat.com and its corresponding social tools in May to help its customers understand how the rolling out of healthcare reform provisions affects them.

Indianapolis, Ind.-based health insurer Anthem Blue Cross is using the Web to discuss the implications of health care reform with its customers.

The company’s HealthyChat.com Web site prominently features a question-and-answer forum on which user inquiries are answered by a site admin. HealthyChat.com, which launched in May, also features a blog featuring links to other health reform sites and news items. It also has presences on social media sites Twitter and Facebook.

"Our goal is to create a straight-forward, honest dialogue between individuals and us," Kate Quinn, vice president of corporate marketing for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield's parent company WellPoint, says in a statement. “HealthyChat.com… illustrates further growth in our use of technology and social media to reach consumers more quickly and efficiently and is part of our overall effort to improve service, quality and help improve people's health. “

Anthem is also using social media in a wellness campaign. The Anthem Connects initiative features a microsite on which users can calculate their health footprint, a measure of how their health habits affect others. A Facebook page, Twitter feed and YouTube channel support the effort.

Nathan Golia is senior editor of Insurance & Technology. He joined the publication in 2010 as associate editor and covers all aspects of the nexus between insurance and information technology, including mobility, distribution, core systems, customer interaction, and risk ... View Full Bio