Celebrating a culture of innovation: Regence honored with Innovation Award by Portland Business Journal
Main image, L-R: Dave Degandi, Nicole Sexton, Tracy Muday, Holly Kramer, Michael Cole, Tracy Olsen, Srihari Muthyala, Ravi Kondiparthi
At Regence, innovation powers our ability to deliver simpler, more personalized experiences for members. Our culture of innovation inspires and empowers our employees to be catalysts for change and look for new ways to solve member and customer pain points.
In 2022, Regence set out to overhaul two common pain points in the health care industry: pre-authorization and siloed health care data. Under chief technology officer Kirk Anderson’s leadership, Regence launched a solution that reimagines the provider and member pre-authorization experience. We are honored that our solution, FHIR-powered pre-authorization, was selected by Portland Business Journal as a Health Care of the Future Innovation Award winner.
FHIR-powered pre-authorization eliminates the need for providers to submit authorization requests through specific payer portals and embeds the process in the provider’s electronic health record. Regence teams transformed pre-authorization from a highly manual, burdensome process that takes several days, to one that executes in near real-time, returning answers in seconds. Not only does it reduce labor and costs for both payers and providers, it also dramatically improves speed to care for members. As the nation’s first available FHIR-powered pre-authorization, Regence is also creating a blueprint for a broader digital transformation of American health care.
Since its inception in 2014, Regence has been a proud supporter and sponsor of the Portland Business Journal’s Health Care of the Future events. Over the past ten years the event has recognized dozens of companies that are pushing for innovative transformation across the health care industry.
This year included panel discussions on the future of workplace health and possible medicinal uses for psilocybin. The event also included discussions with Absci CEO Sean McLain and OHSU President Dr. Janny Jacobs. McLain spoke about the role artificial intelligence can have in health care, specifically its impact on vaccinations. Dr. Jacobs highlighted the biggest challenges facing the health care industry, including burnout and staffing shortages.
It’s conversations and forums like Health Care of the Future that are accelerating change within the health care ecosystem.
Read Portland Business Journal’s Q&A with Kirk Anderson on FHIR-powered pre-authorization here: Health Care of the Future Innovation Awards: Regence BlueCross BlueShield.