N.M. Blue Cross Adds Medicare/medicaid Unit
New government programs office will hire about 30 people; job fair planned to fill positions
Health Care Service Corp. of Chicago is basing a new business unit at its Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico subsidiary in Albuquerque to help grow the Medicare and Medicaid business in the four states where HCSC operates.
The new government programs unit will hire about 30 people by the end of the year for health coordinator, consumer advocate, case management and medical director positions, BCBSNM Chief of Staff Janice Torrez said Friday. Blue Cross and Blue Shield is planning to hold a job fair to find staff for the unit in a few weeks.
Torrez said HCSC decided New Mexico offered the talent, the office space and the technical infrastructure the unit required.
The new unit will focus on providing Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries with care coordination and early intervention, case and condition management, and medical review and utilization management in collaboration with the HCSC Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Illinois. Tom MacLean, BCBSNM vice president of health care management, will run the operation.
“There is going to be a lot of opportunity working with government on Medicaid and Medicare programs” as a result of state and federal health care reform efforts, Torrez said. “This unit will support those programs. The unit is focused on health care management.”
Torrez said HCSC has long offered Medicare and Medicaid products, and BCBSNM provides managed care to some state Medicaid beneficiaries. Until now the company did not have an operation dedicated to that business, she said.