Horizon, Highmark, Independence Blue Cross Acquire NaviNet

Related: What do ACOs have to do with technology? --- Inside Independence Blue Cross' mobile strategy

Three Blue health plans in the Northeast — Highmark (Pittsburgh), Independence Blue Cross (Philadelphia) and Horizon (Newark, N.J.) — have teamed with accountable care IT provider Lumeris to buy Boston-based NaviNet.

NaviNet provides a platform for health-related transactions between payers and providers, including administrative, financial and clinical information. The goal is to integrate NaviNet's capabilities with Lumeris' accountable care offerings to smooth the implementation of accountable care programs among the health carriers' policyholders.

"Our nation's current health care system of fragmented and uncoordinated care results in poor communication, incomplete sharing of information, and inefficiency -- which undermines accountability," Independence Blue Cross CEO Daniel Hilferty says in a statement. "By building on NaviNet's success, this exciting, new collaboration can provide physicians and hospitals easy access to the information and tools they need to move into this new era of accountable care, which we are confident will bring greater satisfaction to our customers and their doctors."

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