Insurance Firm BCS Partners With NHF to Improve Healthcare Quality, Cost

The healthcare insurance company BCS Financial has partnered with the National Hemophilia Foundation (NHF) to improve care quality and cost for people with hemophilia.

BCS Financial provides services primarily for Blue Cross and Blue Shield organizations and their customers. The NHF is a nonprofit that supports the development of treatments and the prevention of complications for people with inheritable bleeding disorders through research, advocacy, and education. 

“The partnership with NHF, a trusted advocacy organization aligned with our focus on assisting with quality and cost of care, is a first-of-its-kind in the industry,” Peter Costello, president and CEO of BCS, said in a press release. 

“NHF’s unique ability to advise on optimal care management truly benefits our customers not only with cost but the level of service we strive to provide,” he added. 

Hemophilia is caused by missing or defective clotting factors, proteins needed for normal blood clotting. Each type of hemophilia results from deficiency in one specific clotting factor. 

A primary treatment option for hemophilia patients is replacement therapy, which supplies the missing clotting protein during bleeding episodes (on-demand) or by regular injections to prevent bleeds (prophylaxis). 

Other treatments include desmopressin — a man-made version of the naturally occurring hormone vasopressin — medicines called antifibrinolytics to prevent or slow the breakdown of blood clots, and bypassing agents used when replacement factors induce an immune response. 

Hemophilia ranks in the top 10 highest case spends, with costs of several hundred thousand dollars per year and annual expenses than can exceed $1 million for people with the most severe forms of the disease, according to the NHF.  

Three major factors drive costs in hemophilia: the site of hemophilia care, testing (assay) management, and prescription management. 

The partnership between BCS and NHF will address these factors by providing patients with increased access to BCS and its complementary services, including limited benefit, international health, excess of loss, stop loss, and group supplemental insurance.

“The partnership between the NHF and BCS and its member plans allow us to establish baseline data on payment claims for people with hemophilia and develop strategies for Blue payers to facilitate the delivery of high-quality care through the network of federally-funded hemophilia treatment centers,” said Leonard A. Valentino, MD, president and CEO of the NHF. “BCS supports our goal to ensure optimal patient outcomes at the lowest possible cost.”