BCBS mounts massive big data effort

Blue Cross Blue Shield is looking to accelerate its Big Data initiatives in a big way. All 36 of the independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) companies within the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) have agreed to contribute extensive data on healthcare quality and costs to Blue Cross Blue Shield Axis, the association’s data management capability. The new commitment will exponentially increase the volume of data entered into the system, which currently encompasses $350 billion in annual claims, including 36 million provider records and more than 700,000 BCBS patient reviews. With all BCBS companies contributing information to the system, BCBS Axis will become the largest aggregated data resource for the healthcare industry and the only resource with healthcare data from every U.S. zip code.