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Blue Cross & Blue Shield United of Wisconsin was among the first U.S. health insurers to offer customer service and sales via the Internet. In September, it launched Service Direct, and now, nearly 3,000 customers log on to www.bluecrosswisconsin.com each week to file and track claims online.
Service Direct works with the Blue Cross & Blue Shield Association's mainframe claims processing system. All information accessed on the site is real time.
In addition to checking claims status, users are able to log on to the site and view deductible and out-of-pocket amounts, and track hospital inpatient and outpatient authorization status and eligibility. Downloadable claim forms also are available online. Service Direct, designed for enrollees of Blue Cross & Blue Shield United of Wisconsin and its HMO subsidiary CompcareBlu, was developed by Companion Information Management Resources, a wholly owned subsidiary of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of South Carolina.
"We receive about 200 new users each week and between 2,000 and 3,000 weekly unique visitors," said Cathy Harvey, senior vice president of marketing for United Wisconsin Services. "It is growing rapidly; and people are very enthusiastic about it." As of March, about 3,000 users...