Dive Brief:
- BCBSA has announced the christening of Blue Cross Blue Shield Axis, a database that aggregates cost data from more than 2.3 billion healthcare procedures annually.
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The database is the culmination of a collective commitment of all 36 independent BCBS companies to contribute data on quality and costs, including data from 96% of all U.S. hospitals and 92% of all doctors nationwide.
- BCBSA CIO Doug Porter told Healthcare Dive aggregation began 10 years ago. Currently, data volume include more than 36 million provider records and more than 700,000 patient reviews.
Dive Insight:
BCBS Axis provides insights for employers, consumers and physicians to improve the quality and affordability of care.
Data are the key to understanding how to improve healthcare for all stakeholders, BCBSA chief strategy officer told Healthcare Dive.
To do this, the Axis program began with 18 companies contributing to the data when aggregation began. Over time, the initiative was broadened to a larger scale.
Employers can benchmark their organization’s performance to help patient outcomes. Utilizing the data, BCBS companies help consumers gain access to information on more doctors, hospitals and procedures, such as locating the right doctor at the best value and make informed, personalized healthcare decisions.
The initiative is as much about quality of care as it is about costs, Sullivan stated.