Anthem Blue Cross announced new plans that will utilizing the Accountable Care Organizations that they have introduced in Los Angeles, Santa Clara, and San Diego California. Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) were created by health care reform as a method of controlling health care costs better.
These new plans are available for small businesses in the 3 areas listed above. The plans provide the flexibility of a PPO with the cost and care advantages of an HMO.
The plans utilize a three tier network of providers. The highest benefit tier uses the new ACO providers to manage the cost of patient care, and provides the lowest costs for the patient. The next lower tier uses the normal Blue Cross PPO network of providers and will maintain the standard costs to the patient. The last tier is the "out of network" providers that will cost patients more to use, but provides access to any doctor at any time.
These plans will become available starting April 1st, 2012.
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