Empower your employees with health plan information

Few things are as frustrating as feeling overwhelmed in the complex web of health insurance claims, plan coverage, potential healthcare costs and providers, not knowing who you need to talk to about what or how to reach them. It’s a major source of stress and anxiety for many, and confusion can worsen already stressful times when families’ medical needs are at the forefront.

We built Blueprint Portal, our top-tier, online tool for Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield members, to help solve certain problems members run up against:

• Not knowing where to find the answers to questions about their health plan and care
• Needing to wait for external help from a customer representative during office hours
• Not having instant, ongoing access to their current plan’s status, including deductibles, coinsurance, copays, out-of-pocket maximums, Explanations of Benefits and the status of claims
• Not having backup or transmittable copies of their member IDs and other important plan documents
• Not knowing how to research providers, procedures, prescriptions, costs and facilities

The portal, which is also an app for iOS and Android devices, puts the power to find, order, understand and research their families’ pertinent health information into the hands of the members themselves.

Blueprint Portal enhances and extends our customer service but is not intended to replace it. Like our members, we still believe in the core value of human connection, especially at times when medical concerns are at the forefront.

We want our members—your employees and their families—to be empowered to make informed healthcare decisions. In our digital age, our members appreciate having 24/7 access to their information to do their own research and access their documents, including, plan information, medical and prescription histories, billing history and dozens of other kinds of data available to them.

Having all that power is great, but members must be able to access it. So, we built the Blueprint Portal site and apps with intuitive design and a clear, simple user interface. On the site and app, members can:

• Access their Arkansas Blue Cross documents. All plan documents are available for viewing and download through Blueprint Portal, including:
  • The plan’s Schedule of Benefits to understand what’s covered
  • Explanations of Benefits (EOBs) to understand what portion of the medical bill the member is responsible for paying
  • Digital member ID cards, with the ability to share, show and reorder
  • Billing and claims history, as well as current claims and their status
  • Any additional coverage (cancer insurance, dental, vision, pharmacy) documents
• Current plan financials. Members can see how much is left on their individual or family deductibles, how much of their out-of-pocket maximums they’ve paid, what their copays are for specialists and coinsurance amounts.
• Find Care and Costs: Arkansas Blue Cross uses a robust data tool to offer a Find Care and Costs feature to our members. We have countless data points about providers, facilities, pharmacies and prescriptions, and we use this data to help our members search for providers and research expected costs of different procedures at different facilities. Members can, for instance, search for a board-certified internal medical physician within three miles of their home, who is highly ranked by patients and is accepting new patients. They can read reviews, see what their specific areas of focus are, contribute reviews of their own and filter by gender or age or languages spoken, among other variables. Similarly, the portal’s users can see whether it is more affordable to have a surgery at other area hospitals. And when they are researching a complex procedure like having a baby or a total knee replacement, the portal will show them what steps and providers they will encounter along the way, from checking in to follow-up care, and explain the associated costs of each step, so members have a clear overview of the entire process, with expected dollar amounts attached.
• Drug database. Members can link to CVS Caremark to search for prescribed drugs, see their details, side effects and any interaction warnings. They can research the costs for generics vs. name brand pharmaceuticals and see what different pharmacies charge to fill those prescriptions.
• Their medical history. Besides the billing history, we also include each patient’s medical history, including current and past medications and dosages, in the secure portal. This is particularly useful when new patients are filling out provider forms or need to share their medical records.
• Access comprehensive wellness information and tools. Our Blueprint Wellness portal is accessible through the Blueprint Portal app or website. Members will find various wellness tools to help them optimize their health and wellbeing. Your company can build a wellness program around these tools and even offer incentives for progress made toward goals. This interactive content is available to all your employees and their families at no additional cost, as your workforce’s wellbeing is good for everyone.
• Find contact information for more help. Sometimes the best option is not self-service, but to speak one-on-one with a knowledgeable member of our customer team. Blueprint Portal provides members seeking to speak to someone with the best contact information for their need, whether it’s calling or emailing one team or another.
• Additional features in development. We continually optimize, refine and reassess the information available through Blueprint Portal and the functionality within it. We expect to continue to add features and capabilities that, with your input and feedback, will make our portal an even more engaging and relevant tool for your group’s members. One feature currently in development is a live chat function, which will enhance the portal’s interactive power even more.

Contact your Arkansas Blue Cross representative with any questions about Blueprint Portal or visit arkbluecross.com/blueprintportal for more information.