Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, the insurer of the state in the health sector, announced Monday that it implements a program in five counties in North Texas to better focus on the well- being and manage diseases.

The insurer has created a program called medical home with two groups of doctors, the medical clinic in northern Texas and the Village Health Partners, who provide care to more than 20,000 members in Dallas, Denton, Tarrant, Collin and counties Johnson.

The term medical home refers to a coordinated system of primary care physicians, specialists and pharmacists share information from a patient electronically. Today, the health care system in Texas and the nation is often fragmented. Patients with chronic diseases are often treated for each symptom rather than the medical management of underlying disease, like diabetes.

"The house is really the new medical care model for the 21st century," said Dr. Christopher Crow, president of Village Health Partners. "It combines the traditional approach to practice family medicine has always been known for the last technology to ensure that patients receive appropriate care at the right time in the right frame. "

Eduardo Sanchez, vice president and medical director of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, said the effort now to improve health requires a partnership with doctors, he calls the quarterback "guide patients in the system of health care complex. "

Blue Cross is not the first health insurer to offer such a program. In August, Cigna HealthCare has announced the first state in trade sponsored by the medical center at the Medical Clinic of North Texas to serve 10,000 patients. An estimated 10 percent of these patients suffer from chronic diseases and have a higher risk of being admitted to an emergency room, Cigna said.

Although insurers are merely adopting the concept of home medical, hospitals and doctors have long pushed for medical homes. Children's Medical Center in Dallas has invested 2 million dollars to begin the doctors for children as a medical clinic at home for non-profit in August 2000.

Before the program began home medical, zip code 75220 near Bachman Lake was the largest source of visits by minors to the emergency room of the hospital. But after the clinic opened at home Bachman Lake, minor emergency room visits for that postal code falls to sixth among the coverage areas for children.