Welcome Employers

Premera and Anthem's relationship

Anthem and Premera are separate organizations, both part of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. This relationship enables us to provide a national provider network so that members can access care anywhere in the country.

Anthem's service area

If your organization has members who travel or reside outside of Washington State and received care in Anthem's service area, Anthem may have processed the claim(s) for the care received. States included in Anthem's service area include Colorado, Nevada, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, Virginia, Wisconsin, California, and New York.

Premera does not share individual member data with other blue plans. However, if a member received healthcare services in Anthem's service area, their healthcare provider may have shared the member's information with Anthem to allow them to process a claim for service rendered.

Resources for the most up to date information

Please check back on this page frequently for the most current information. For members on your plan, you can continue to direct them to premeranews.com/anthem as a resource for their questions.

Identification of members impacted

We have analyzed data from Anthem. At this time, the total number of affected members is 115,000. Of those, less than 100 members had their Social Security number in the data. Most of the affected members are in Washington (approximately 105,000). We are notifying impacted employers and members. Employers who do not hear from us do not have impacted members.

Notification to members impacted

Premera is sending letters to members identified as impacted. For members whose Social Security number was included in the data, we are calling them directly in addition to sending them a letter. The letter includes information regarding free credit monitoring and identity theft protection services that can be accessed through the Anthem site: www.anthemfacts.com. Due to various state and federal security breach laws, Anthem will send the required legal notices to all affected individuals in the coming weeks. Please note that other Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) plans and Anthem affiliated plans also had data stored in the Anthem data warehouse that was attacked. If your former or current employees have (or had) another one of these affected plans, then they may receive additional notices from Anthem or another BCBS plan.

Premera's data security

Premera has a dedicated IT security team who is constantly working to safeguard our members' data. Based on information shared by Anthem, we do not believe our systems are vulnerable to the same kind of attack that they suffered. We continue to examine our systems and security measures to safeguard against these risks.

Virtual care gives members immediate and convenient access to care whenever and wherever they need it (except in Idaho).

Members who are covered (as plans enroll or renew beginning January 1, 2015) receive care virtually from their own doctor or from a doctor at our national provider service, Teladoc^®.

Covered members can get care via phone call, online video, or other online media at least as easily as they walk into an office and get care face to face.

To find out more about Virtual Care, contact your Premera sales representative.

Premera is introducing Prior Authorization as part of our efforts to help our members receive high quality cost-effective care consistent with clinical best practices. Prior Authorization requires members to make sure their provider requests an authorization in advance for certain services.

Effective September 1, Prior Authorization will apply to fully-insured large groups (51+) as they renew and enroll, both grandfathered and non-grandfathered. It will also apply to Self-funded Groups and National Accounts as they renew and enroll, and Self-funded Groups choose how the member penalty is applied if Prior Authorization is not obtained.

Prior Authorization will apply to Small Groups (1-50 employees) and Associations beginning January 1, 2014.

For more information about Prior Authorization, read the Producer Bulletin June Edition.

To ensure the safety of our members, Premera is implementing a Controlled Substance Utilization service. We will review prescription drug use by our members to make sure it meets standards of medical need, safety and best medical practices. When our review identifies an instance where the use of addictive drugs may exceed safe levels, we contact the member.

Our Case Management team will work with the member using engagement and coaching techniques to uncover and address barriers to optimal health as well as coordinate services among healthcare providers.

Please contact your Premera Sales Representative if you have any questions.

Choosing Wisely® is a promotional campaign designed by the ABIM Foundation to increase physician/patient dialogue, employee health care literacy, and reduce waste in the healthcare system. It aims to promote conversations between physicians and patients by helping patients choose care that is:

• Supported by evidence
• Not duplicative of other tests or procedures already received
• Free from harm
• Truly necessary

General campaign messages include “Five Things Physicians and Patients Should Question” which is derived from twenty leading medical specialty societies. The campaign also promotes when specific tests and procedures such as imaging tests, EKG, and Pap tests may be appropriate, as well as the methodology used.

Check out Choosing Wisely: When to say ‘Whoa!’ to doctors or visit the Choosing Wisely website for more information.

Premera works closely with new employers to help you retain grandfathered status when joining our plan. The options, and levels of flexibility, depend on your group size.

For groups of 100 and more, we can review customization options for your plan to meet grandfathering criteria. Groups of 51-99 can purchase one of our existing products that already meets grandfathered status.

For groups of 50 or fewer, we recommend you contact your producer for assistance with understanding how to maintain your grandfathered status. If you’re interested in switching carriers to Premera, please contact your producer.

You may be familiar with ICD-9. This is the coding system used in healthcare to classify diseases and other health problems. It is also meant to promote international comparability in the collection, processing, classification, and presentation of mortality and health statistics. Premera uses these codes to standardize communication and payments to providers.

Many countries adopted ICD-10 in the 1990s. The United States will begin use of ICD-10 on October 1, 2015. The main difference in the two systems is the level of specificity. While ICD-9 contains 14,000 diagnosis codes, ICD-10 will have 69,000.

Premera has been preparing for ICD-10 for some time. We are working together with our contracted providers to ensure a smooth transition to the new system.

More information