• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

  • Opinion
  • Health IT
    • Behavioral Health
    • Care Coordination
    • EMR/EHR
    • Interoperability
    • Patient Engagement
    • Population Health Management
    • Revenue Cycle Management
    • Social Determinants of Health
  • Digital Health
    • AI
    • Blockchain
    • Precision Medicine
    • Telehealth
    • Wearables
  • Life Sciences
  • Investments
  • M&A
  • Value-based Care
    • Accountable Care (ACOs)
    • Medicare Advantage

Highmark Partners With Best Doctors to Provide Virtual Second Opinions for Members

by Jasmine Pennic 04/12/2017 Leave a Comment

  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Print

Highmark Partners With Best Doctors to Provide Virtual Second Opinions for Members

Highmark, the nation’s fourth-largest Blue Cross and Blue Shield-affiliated organization is partnering with Best Doctors to provide virtual expert second opinions for Highmark members and their physicians dealing with rare or complex medical conditions. Best Doctors provides access to more than 53,000 of the world’s brightest minds in over 450 medical specialties, without the need for patients to travel far from home. Data from Best Doctors show that consultation with its experts results in corrected or refined diagnosis in 37 percent of its U.S.-based cases, and corrects or improves treatment in nearly 75 percent of cases.

Highmark members with complex conditions and multiple comorbidities, elusive diagnosis, multiple hospitalizations and ER visits, and facing decision points in care are the best candidates for the program. Best Doctors will be available for Highmark’s fully-insured customers as well as to Highmark’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) members.

“Highmark chose to partner with Best Doctors on second opinions because their process is patient-centric and clinically collaborative,” said Charles DeShazer, M.D., chief medical officer at Highmark. “We like that medical decision-making remains at the local level with the treating physician because this fosters continuity of care.”

With the member’s permission, their Highmark case manager collaborates with a case manager at Best Doctors. Together they gather the member’s complete medical record, avoiding the fragmentation of records which often complicates the diagnostic picture. The information and scans are carefully compiled to help provide a clearer view of the patient’s entire history with the Best Doctors expert. These experts are clinically and academically accomplished, affiliated with national and global centers of excellence, and elected by their peers to the top five percent of U.S. physicians. They then undertake a structured and comprehensive review, devoting many clinical hours to each case, analyzing it from multiple angles in a criterion-based review before preparing their report which is shared with the Highmark member and their doctor.

“The uncertainty of not knowing your diagnosis or receiving an incorrect one comes with a tremendous physical, emotional, and financial toll,” said Peter McClennen, CEO of Best Doctors, Inc. “This partnership between Highmark and Best Doctors represents an opportunity to reverse that negative impact and bring peace of mind to many patients simply looking for the right answers.”

  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Print

Tagged With: Best Doctors, Highmark, Virtual Second Opinions

Tap Native

Get in-depth healthcare technology analysis and commentary delivered straight to your email weekly

Reader Interactions

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to HIT Consultant

Latest insightful articles delivered straight to your inbox weekly.

Submit a Tip or Pitch

Featured Interview

Reach7 Diabetes Studios Founder Chun Yong on Reimagining Chronic Care with a Concierge Medical Model

Most-Read

Particle Health Addresses Integration to Epic Data Despite Dispute

US Court Allows Particle’s Antitrust Claims Against Epic to Proceed

Epic Launches Comet: A New AI Platform to Predict Patient Health Journeys

Epic Launches Comet: A New AI Platform to Predict Patient Health Journeys

Preparing for the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’: How Digitization Can Streamline Medicaid Eligibility & Social Care Delivery

Preparing for the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’: How Digitization Can Streamline Medicaid Eligibility & Social Care Delivery

Evernorth Health Services Invests $3.5B in Shields Health Solutions

Evernorth Health Services Invests $3.5B in Shields Health Solutions

KLAS Report: Oracle Health Faces Customer Losses and Declining Satisfaction

KLAS Report: Oracle Health Faces Customer Losses and Declining Satisfaction

Tempus AI Acquires Digital Pathology Leader Paige for $81.25M

M&A:Tempus AI Acquires Digital Pathology Leader Paige for $81.25M

Mira Launches Ultra4™, the First At-Home Hormone Monitor with Lab-Quality Insights

Femtech: Mira Launches Ultra4™, the First At-Home Hormone Monitor with Lab-Quality Insights

How Healthcare CIOs Can Solve the Unstructured Data Crisis and Reduce Storage Costs

How Healthcare CIOs Can Solve the Unstructured Data Crisis and Reduce Storage Costs

Healthcare C-Suite Acknowledges AI Potential but Lacks Trust

Sage Growth Partners Report: Healthcare C-Suite Acknowledges AI Potential but Lacks Trust

EVERSANA and Waltz Health Merge to Redefine Pharmaceutical Commercialization

EVERSANA and Waltz Health Merge to Redefine Pharmaceutical Commercialization

Secondary Sidebar

Footer

Company

  • About Us
  • Advertise with Us
  • Reprints and Permissions
  • Submit An Op-Ed
  • Contact
  • Subscribe

Editorial Coverage

  • Opinion
  • Health IT
    • Care Coordination
    • EMR/EHR
    • Interoperability
    • Population Health Management
    • Revenue Cycle Management
  • Digital Health
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Blockchain Tech
    • Precision Medicine
    • Telehealth
    • Wearables
  • Startups
  • Value-Based Care
    • Accountable Care
    • Medicare Advantage

Connect

Subscribe to HIT Consultant Media

Latest insightful articles delivered straight to your inbox weekly

Copyright © 2025. HIT Consultant Media. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy |