The nation’s leader in health coverage has announced a pivotal acquisition for its business technology as well as its customer base. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan recently announced their sole ownership of healthcare giant, NASCO, a provider of healthcare technology for Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans across the nation. The CEO of BCBSM hopes the move will help to accelerate the company’s digital evolution and enlarge its market capabilities.
NASCO is a name known throughout the healthcare industry. Providing healthcare technology for health plans across the country, NASCO houses the technology behind the development of digital health technologies. Now, becoming a part of the BCBSM family as a permanent fixture, NASCO looks to the future of the company.
“The future of healthcare will be advanced by the speed at which companies can pivot, adopt new solutions or integrate with existing solutions to keep up with the rapidly changing and increasingly complex healthcare market,” says John Ladaga, president and CEO of NASCO. “NASCO products have evolved far beyond claims administration and are now deeply integrated into our Blue plan customers’ operations and strategic initiatives. The existing owner plans agreed that it was time to make a significant change in order to accelerate our digital evolution and expand our product offerings.”
BCBSM is the provider of healthcare benefits to upwards of 4.7 million members across Michigan as well as employees of Michigan-headquartered companies residing outside the state. As healthcare technology continues to evolve CEOs are investing in its advancement. Providing cutting-edge support for its client base, NASCO offers more than 10 technology-based services to Blue plans across several lines of business. NASCO’s core products include membership management, claims processing, customer servicing, and billing to approximately 22 million Blue Cross Blue Shield health plan members in its national repertoire.
The acquisition may be new, but the companies have had ties since the late 1980s. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has held a minority ownership in NASCO since the company’s formation in 1987. BCBSM also held the first Blue plan to process national account business on the NASCO platform. For more than 30 years, their partnership has been maintained as NASCO providing claims processing and other services for approximately four million BCBSM commercial members, over 75 percent of BCBSM’s total membership.
“BCBSM has had a decades-long business partnership with NASCO, and this is a natural progression to further innovate and add scale,” says Bill Fandrich, BCBSM Senior Vice President, and Chief Information Officer. “We are excited about this stronger partnership with
NASCO. Together, we will bring unprecedented market capabilities beyond anything we are providing independently today.”
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan acquired a total ownership interest in NASCO to help advance the health plan’s business strategy. BCBSM also looks to maintain the stability and longevity of NASCO’s core products.
“BCBSM has long been investing in new technologies and different ways of working to deliver solutions to the healthcare ecosystem of the future. This change demonstrates our commitment to this work now and into the future,” says Daniel J. Loepp, BCBSM president, and CEO. “These capabilities will be leveraged to support NASCO’s development of a greater suite of products to address a system that is becoming more digital. We look forward to working with more plans as we continue to build on its success.”
NASCO services also include products for next best action, benefit lookup, appeals and grievances, and provider data management. NASCO was previously owned by six BCBS health plans, including BCBSM. There is currently no further information as to when the acquisition will become effective.
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