Annual Wellness Checkups are Crucial to Keeping Members Healthy

It’s a new year, which means we’re encouraging members to schedule their annual wellness visits with their primary care providers (PCPs). Annual wellness visits are covered by our health plans under preventive care, but members of Premera Blue Cross HMO (PBC HMO) need to see their designated PCP.

Suggesting Kinwell to reduce member cost

Kinwell is an independent company that has a mission aligned with ours, so we’ve made them our preferred primary care provider. They are no longer exclusive to members with health plans from the Premera family of businesses (Premera Blue Cross, PBC HMO, LifeWise Health Plan of Washington). We’re continuing to recommend Kinwell to members and employers as a resource to reduce their total cost of care. We’re also making it clear that if members did not add a designated PCP to their dashboard, they may have been assigned to a Kinwell provider at a local clinic. They can always change their PCP through their member portal.

Committed to better communication

We’ve heard from members that this requirement can be confusing and frustrating to navigate, so moving forward, we’re doing our best to improve how we communicate what they need to know about PCPs, referrals, and direct care.