In support of National Healthcare Decisions Day on April 16, Regence is unveiling inaugural palliative care program results. These showcase how critical this program is and the increased demand for this personalized level of support.

Findings include;

  • Customer demand and utilization: Opened nearly 1,300 cases – double the first year’s target projection
  • Customer satisfaction: Achieved a 94 percent satisfaction score from members – outperforming the target by 14 percent
  • Improved outcomes for patients: Reduced hospital readmissions from 30% to 25%

Launched last year, Regence’s comprehensive palliative care program aligned with the company’s belief that a holistic approach to serious illness support is essential as the company looks to ensure all customers are supported through every stage of life.

Specifically, Regence’s program provides emotional, physical and spiritual support to the person who is managing their illness, while offering tools, resources, and support to the individual’s loved ones and caregivers. Regence introduced this solution and focused on provider and community engagement to increase awareness and to further support customer needs.

“A comprehensive palliative care program greatly improves the quality of an individual’s life.  This begins from the time of initial diagnosis until completion of life,” said Dr. Bruce Smith, Executive Medical Director for Personalized Care Support at Regence. “When managing a chronic condition it’s essential that the person dealing with the illness and their families have the support they need when they need it most.”

In addition to providing this benefit across all Regence health plan offerings, the company actively supports community and industry engagement efforts to further educate and inform the public, customers, providers, industry influencers, and employees through various outlets. Some of these include;

  • 9 Death Over Dinner events hosted in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Utah
  • My Gift of Grace event in Portland attended by over 100 people to discuss the importance of advance care planning
  • Children’s Cancer Association event with Chemo Pals
  • American Cancer Society-Cancer Action Network - Utah Palliative Care Forum
  • Partnering with the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research (HICOR) by sharing data for cancer outcomes research
  • Delivered keynote to American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) Annual Meeting

About Regence

Regence serves nearly two million members through Regence BlueShield of Idaho, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah and Regence BlueShield (select counties in Washington). Each health plan is a nonprofit independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Regence is part of a family of companies dedicated to transforming health care by delivering innovative products and services that change the way consumers nationwide experience health care. For more information, please visit regence.com.