Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City Takes a Stand Against Diabetes - April 2010

Contact:
Susan M. Johnson, 816-395-3566

"Diabetes Know Now!" to Provide Life-Saving Test for Deadly Disease

KANSAS CITY, MO, April 20, 2010—Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City today announced that it is launching a new community campaign to combat diabetes in the Kansas City area. "Diabetes Know Now!," available from the company's Web site www.BlueKC.com, combines a short, online diabetes risk assessment to help identify people who may be at high risk of having or developing type 2 diabetes with an at-home diabetes test kit for those at high risk. Both the online assessment and at-home diabetes test kit were developed by Hooper Holmes Health & Wellness, a leading health information company with operations based in Kansas City.

Diabetes is fast becoming one of the costliest, most prevalent chronic health conditions in Kansas City, with eight percent of the population affected, and this number continues to grow. In recent years, Missouri spent an estimated $3 billion on diabetes-related care. Perhaps most frightening, diabetes prevalence in our area has surged nearly 50 percent in the past 12 years, and many people with diabetes do not even know they have this potentially deadly disease. Untreated, diabetes can lead to serious health complications and even death.

"Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City is pleased to be joining physicians, hospitals and other dedicated professionals with such a crucial community awareness campaign," said Tom Bowser, President and CEO of the company. "We have always stressed the importance of personal accountability in lifestyle and healthcare choices. Now, with healthcare reform in place and a greater emphasis on prevention throughout the nation, Diabetes Know Now! is one way we can all focus on staying healthy and getting the medical help we may need."

"I applaud Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City for taking steps to address the growing diabetes problem in our community," said Dr. Rex Archer, Director of the City of Kansas City, Missouri Health Department.

"We are delighted that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City is joining our movement to Stop Diabetes by raising awareness of diabetes risk and the importance of prevention in our community," said Mark Stubbs, Executive Director, American Diabetes Association Kansas City Office. "Initiatives like Diabetes Know Now! will truly help us change the future diabetes."

"While Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City is typically able to offer these kinds of programs only to our policyholders, the importance of diabetes awareness and this program have enabled us to open the program to policyholders and non-policyholders alike," said David Gentile, President and CEO Elect of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City. "This makes the Diabetes Know Now! program truly a community-based initiative."

Policyholders, or members, who are identified as being at high risk of having or developing diabetes will receive free test kits, and nonmembers will be given the opportunity to buy their own kits for the nominal cost of $20.

As an added benefit to the program, Hooper Holmes, the creator of Diabetes Know Now!, will be donating hundreds of free diabetes test kits to Kansas City safety net health clinics so that high risk Kansas Citians who are uninsured or lower income can obtain a free at-home test kit. At home self-test kits will be available at these free health clinics: Kansas City Free Health Clinic and Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center. Supplies of test kits are limited at the Clinics and will only be available for a limited time.

"Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City is taking an unprecedented step in combating diabetes and we are proud that they are launching our Diabetes Know Now! program to their members and non-members alike," stated Chris Behling, President of Hooper Holmes Health & Wellness. "In support of their campaign and commitment, we are pleased to be able to donate a supply of our at-home diabetes test kits to Kansas City free health clinics in areas of the city that are the hardest hit by the diabetes epidemic."

"While diabetes has reached epidemic proportions, 80% of people with diabetes in this country live in only 8,000 of our zip codes. Unfortunately, these zip codes often represent communities of color and citizens with less access to affordable healthcare," stated Dr. Gary Puckrein, President and CEO of the National Minority Quality Forum. "I am thrilled that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City is using our D-ATLAS to target these communities with the Diabetes Know Now! program and that Hooper Holmes is donating at-home diabetes test kits to safety-net clinics in the Kansas City area."

Diabetes Statistics

• One in five healthcare dollars is spent on diabetes – that's 20% of all healthcare costs spent on diabetes.
• In this country, there are nearly 24 million people with diabetes.
• An additional 57 million are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes.
• And nearly six million are undiagnosed – they have no idea there is a time bomb ticking in their bodies.
• In 2007, diabetes costs nationwide were $174 BILLION.
• Diabetes seems to cluster in poorer areas. Of the 38,000 zip codes in this country, 80% of all diabetes cluster in only 8,000 zip codes, usually urban cores, and the middle part of the country.

Sources:

American Diabetes Association, www.diabetes.org
Center for Disease Control, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, www.cdc.gov/brfss
National Minority Quality Forum, www.nmqf.org

About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City (Blue KC), the largest not-for-profit health insurer in Missouri and the only not-for-profit commercial health insurer in Kansas City, has been part of the Kansas City community since 1938. Blue KC provides health coverage to nearly one million residents in the greater Kansas City area, including Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas and 30 counties in Northwest Missouri. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

For more information on the company, visit its website at www.BlueKC.com. Our mission: to use our role as the area's leading health insurer to provide affordable access to healthcare and to improve the health and wellness of our members.

About Hooper Holmes

Hooper Holmes is a leader in collecting personal health data and transforming it into useful information, enabling customers to take actions that manage or reduce their risks and expenses. As a leading provider of risk assessment services, Hooper Holmes provides customers with the widest range of medical exam, data collection, laboratory testing and underwriting services in the industry.

With presence in more than 250 markets and a network of thousands of examiners, Hooper Holmes can arrange a medical exam anywhere in the U.S. and deliver the results to its customers. Each year we arrange more medical exams than any other company and process millions of specimens in our laboratory. We provide a complete service for wellness, disease management, and managed care companies including scheduling support, fulfillment of supplies, blood collection kits, medical screenings, and lab testing and data transmission. We underwrite thousands of cases annually and complete more than a million telephone interviews.

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