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Mobile In Health Insurance: CareFirst Ups Ante

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield taps Cognizant to support its mobile technology initiatives.

Among the many regulatory, competitive and technology forces driving change in the health insurance industry, the need to be able to engage with members and employers via mobile channels is a top priority. Accordingly, in order to support its efforts to leverage mobile technology for its 3.3 million members in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia, Baltimore-based CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst) announced a partnership with Cognizant (Teaneck, N.J.). Under this engagement, CareFirst is working with Cognizant to establish a direct connection with its members, intended to provide them with quick, secure and convenient ways to manage their health coverage, access information about physicians and claims, and obtain details about benefits anytime, anywhere using smartphones and tablets.

[6 Trends Transforming Health Insurance]

Cognizant will leverage its Mobility Testing Lab in Phoenix for on-demand, cloud-based testing of the mobile applications across multiple devices and carriers, helping CareFirst save time and infrastructure maintenance costs, the companies report.

"Our move into the mobile space is driven by the growing significance of mobility in the overall connected health effort," said Harry D. Fox, SVP for Technical and Operational Support Services at CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, in a press release. "The ubiquity of smartphones and tablet devices, while rapidly changing customer expectations and operational needs, presents a powerful direct link for us to connect with our members and for our members to better manage their health care."

This engagement further expands Cognizant's relationship with CareFirst, through which Cognizant is delivering business consulting, systems integration, and application development solutions to support CareFirst's strategic initiatives, including mandates around regulatory compliance.

Katherine Burger is Editorial Director of Bank Systems & Technology and Insurance & Technology, members of UBM TechWeb's InformationWeek Financial Services. She assumed leadership of Bank Systems & Technology in 2003 and of Insurance & Technology in 1991. In addition to ... View Full Bio

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