The BCBSNC employees spent the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday constructing the walls of a Habitat for Humanity home that will be shipped to the Mobile, Ala. area for Stacey Mosley and her disabled daughter, whose apartment was flooded and heavily damaged by the hurricane.

These scenarios are soon to become reality in North Carolina as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) rolls out ePrescribe, a new program to promote and fund the adoption of electronic prescribing to a select group of physicians.

George Lassiter, who has more than 30 years experience in corporate data center and technology management, has been named vice president of IS Operational Services for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC).

Walter Kastenschmidt has joined Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) as vice president of Clinical Informatics. In this role, Kastenschmidt will lead the team that provides critical data analysis related to BCBSNC's ability to manage medical expense trends and help members make the best choices about their health.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) today reported consolidated net income of $133.3 million for the nine months ending September 30, 2005, which was 8 percent less than the company earned during the same period last year and approximately 23 percent less than the company earned during the same period in 2003.

A consortium of North Carolina health care providers and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) today announced details of a collaborative project to improve the survival rate of patients rushed to the hospital with heart attacks. The consortium, which includes physicians, hospitals and emergency medical services professionals, is launching a new effort called Reperfusion of Acute MI in Carolina Emergency departments (RACE).

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) today announced greater availability of eInfoNOWSM, an online reporting tool that allows employer groups to track claims utilization data and to perform data analysis. Having this capability allows BCBSNC and the employer to tailor insurance plans to meet the specific health needs of each employer group. The eInfoNOW tool is available to all local and national self-insured employer groups.

At its third annual State of Preventive Health summit today, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) urged employers to play a heightened role in the company’s efforts to encourage healthier lifestyle practices. Unhealthy lifestyles continue to drive medical costs. Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health (NBGH), was on hand to describe efforts to recognize businesses that have instituted successful lifestyle improvement programs.

BCBSNC is offering the flu shots at locations that include regional high-risk clinics and more than 700 retail locations across the state. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recommending flu shots for all Hurricane Katrina evacuees, particularly those living in crowded shelters.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) and North Carolina Baptist Hospital announced today that they have reached a three-year agreement for the hospital to rejoin the BCBSNC network.