The Blue Apple Awards are presented annually at the Federal Employees Program (FEP) Operations Conference. Blue Apple awards recognize the Highest Performing Plan and Most Improved Plan for select Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measures.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) and the Federal Employees Program (FEP) recognized BCBSND at the recent FEP Operations Conference for being a top performer (best score) in two HEDIS measures:

• Use of Imaging Studies for Low Back Pain (LBP)
  
• Timeliness of Prenatal Care (PPC_T)

HEDIS measures
HEDIS measures are one of health care’s most widely used performance improvement tools.  FEP has identified LBP and PPC_T as Priority 1 measures. This means that the BCBSA and FEP want all plans to focus on improving those measures.

Low back pain (LBP)
The LBP  measure assesses adults 18-50 with a primary diagnosis of low back pain who did not have an imaging study (x-ray, MRI or CT scan) within 28 days of diagnosis.

Timeliness of Prenatal Care (PPC_T)
The PPC_T measure assesses the percentage of deliveries that had a prenatal care visit as a member of the organization in the first trimester, on the enrollment start date or within 42 days of enrollment.

BCBSND’s efforts
BCBSND has a FEP HEDIS Quality Group that meets monthly to work on FEP HEDIS and quality initiatives. An extension of the FEP HEDIS Quality Group is smaller HEDIS workgroups created to work on specific Priority 1 HEDIS measures and to find areas of improvement.

FEP materials
BCBSND also has a HEDIS workgroup in place for Timeliness of Prenatal Care initiatives. The FEP has member education materials focused on the importance of maternity care. They also have a Pregnancy Care Incentive Program that members can participate in. Click here to learn more.