At a time of layoffs across the country, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota (BCBSND) and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska (BCBSNE) launched CoreLink Administrative Solutions, a healthcare IT company, in January.
The joint venture transferred approximately 120 employees from BCBSND and is expected to hire 100 more by the end of the year, bringing more jobs to the cities of Fargo and Omaha.
CoreLink provides administrative services in membership, claims, customer service and client reporting to three Blues plans, which saves money because they are sharing the operating platform.
CoreLink is not quite a business process outsourcer, according to Denise Kolpack, vice president of corporate communications. "The business functions that are associated with each of the core services and the employees remain in the domain of the plan," she explained.
The healthcare IT company charges each of the three plans a per- member, per-month fee to use the platform, she said. "The volume of work is fairly steady," she said. "All three of the plans that CoreLink provides its services to have very stable market shares in the respective service areas."
CoreLink processes claims for BCBSND and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming (BCBSWY), the latter through a service agreement between it and BCBSND. By the end of 2009, CoreLink anticipates processing approximately 20 percent of the BCBSNE claims, Kolpack said, but it will take a total of four years to complete the migration of BCBSNE's contracts to the CoreLink platform.
"Based on the migration timelines and the growth of the number of contracts that are on the CoreLink platform, the CoreLink staff could grow to approximately 200 over the next 12 to 18 months," she said. The additional staff will be filled in the operations, programming, business systems analyst, membership and project management areas of the company.
The company's goal is to complete the BCBSNE 2009 migration plan on schedule and on budget, and continue to provide services at a rate lower than the plans can accomplish themselves, Kolpack said.
