National Survey Names HIP Among Nation’s Top 500 Innovative Users of Technology.
New York, N.Y. Dec. 5 – HIP Health Plan of New York has been named in InformationWeek’s annual listing of the nation’s most innovative corporate users of information technology. The listing, which identifies the innovative ways in which companies in 24 different industries utilize technology to gain a business advantage, listed HIP as among the nation’s top 500 companies.
Anthony L. Watson, Chairman and CEO, said:
"The InformationWeek 500 ranking is the only one of its kind based on both the size and complexity of installed information technologies. When you consider that the survey covers all United States companies, our inclusion in the top 500 is a significant accomplishment. It recognizes that HIP has made giant strides in the last few years by providing virtually all of HIP with high technology for internal systems and customer services that sets us apart from other healthcare companies. The credit goes to John Steber, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer, and Pedro Villalba, Vice President for Information Technology. John and Pedro are part of HIP’s new management team that is taking HIP’s delivery of health care from excellent to extraordinary."
Among HIP’s innovative technology systems is the deployment of its Internet e-health platform HIPUSA.com. HIP’s Web site is a Virtual e-Customer Service Center that allows HIP members to interact with HIP 24 hours a day, 7 days a week using Internet and interactive voice response technology.
Using HIPUSA.com provides the following customer service transactions: PCP changes, provider searches, online pharmacy services (including submission of prescription processing), change of address, request ID cards, perform claim and benefit inquiries, validate provider and member eligibility, submit customer service e-mail, request on demand printing of special forms and electronic brochures, review health education information, review HIP company news, and review product and services offerings.
To provide job enrichment for its employees, HIP’s innovative use of technology has deployed an internet/intranet-training platform. Employees can now select from over 2,000 professional business and technical training classes over the Internet. Several of the technical courses will lead to Microsoft Certification of an employee’s technical skills. Employees can take courses from home or at work via the Internet.
HIP Health Plan of New York, with a membership of about 800,000, operates in the New York area, including Westchester, Nassau, and Suffolk Counties and the five boroughs of New York; Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. HIP New York is a mixed model, a combination of Medical Centers staffed by physician groups, a separate network of more than 14,000 physicians in more than 22.000 locations, and a hospital health care network including Beth-Israel/Continuum, Lenox Hill, Montefiore, and St. Barnabas.
Contact: Ron Maiorana, Sr. VP Corporate Public Affairs
E-mail rmaiorana@hipusa.com
