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Blue Cross Blue Shield Association
Industry: Health care
Number of terms: 4240
Number of blossaries: 0
Company Profile:
The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) is a federation of 39 separate health insurance organizations and companies in the United States. Combined, they directly or indirectly provide health insurance to over 100 million Americans.
An individual or organisation that offers care directly to the member. The direct care provider is in the same physical location as the member and offers care to patients from within the local Plan's service area. Some examples are: (1) a provider who physically examines the patient, (2) a lab that performs the blood draw from a patient, or (3) a technician who fits a prosthetic limb to the patient. The direct care provider should file claims to the local Blue Plan. BlueCard applies if the provider of service is outside the member's Plan's service area and does not contract with the member's Blue Plan.
Industry:Health care
A method of paying for healthcare services on the basis of the number of patients who are covered for specific services over a specified period of time rather than the cost or number of services that are actually provided.5
Industry:Health care
A communication system that enables a member to request specified documents or forms by entering information on the telephone keypad and to receive the requested information by fax.
Industry:Health care
An agreement with a provider not to bill the subscriber for any difference between billed charges for covered services (excluding coinsurance) and the amount the provider has contractually agreed with a BCBS Plan as full payment for those services.
Industry:Health care
A physician or other medical professional who serves as a group member's first contact with a plan's healthcare system. Also known as a primary care physician, personal care physician, or personal care provider.
Industry:Health care
A voluntary health insurance programme for federal employees, retirees, and their dependents and survivors.
Industry:Health care
An individual or organisation that offers care to patients from outside the local Plan's service area. Services may be provided from a single site or from multiple locations. The provider of service is the one who files a claim for a service supplied to the member. BlueCard applies if the provider of service is outside the member's Blue Plan's service area and does not contract with the member's Plan. The member's location at the time of service is irrelevant. Often the patient and the indirect care provider are in different physical locations.
Industry:Health care
Agents that represent only one health plan or insurer.
Industry:Health care
A process through which an organisation validates credentialing information from the organisation that originally conferred or issued the credentialing element to the practitioner.22
Industry:Health care
A federal act which established the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and gave the FTC power to work with the Department of Justice to enforce the Clayton Act. The primary function of the FTC is to regulate unfair competition and deceptive business practices, which are presented broadly in the Act. As a result, the FTC also pursues violators of the Sherman Antitrust Act. See also antitrust laws.
Industry:Health care