BCBSA to Outsource to Unisys

Leveraging its 40-strong company membership, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (Chicago) has negotiated a claims administration outsourcing contract with Blue Bell, Pa.-based Unisys. The three-year deal provides the association's independent, locally owned and operated affiliates with the option of contracting with Unisys for an end-to-end business process outsourcing solution customized to their specific demands.

Unisys won the contract following a competitive bidding process involving "seven leading companies in the BPO space with some emphasis on claims processing," according to Mike Ozmeral, managing director of strategic sourcing, BCBSA. The choice to go with Unisys was not made, Ozmeral says, "because some of the other leading companies fell short, but [because] Unisys excelled in some key criteria, such as healthcare expertise, national coverage, scope and financial stability.

The vendor's BPO services for healthcare include its Health Payer Administration Solution (Health PAS) and selected claims processing operations, such as claims entry, document management, member eligibility verification and benefit adjudication, provider verification, pended claims/utilization review, and payment processing.

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio