Horizon BCBSNJ Announces New Collaboration to Deliver Better Care to Cancer Patients

On Sep 23, 2014

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey (BCBSNJ) recently announced it has invested in COTA, Inc., an oncology-management technology company based in Hackensack. COTA’s real-time data platform assists physicians with providing personalized and optimal care to their cancer patients as well as enabling practices and health plans to move to value-based care models that reward the quality, not quantity, of care cancer patients receive.

Horizon BCBSNJ is leading an effort to transform how health care is delivered in New Jersey by rewarding doctors and hospitals for the value, not the volume, of patient care they provide. Horizon BCBSNJ’s patient-centered programs, which deliver more coordinated and efficient patient care, while improving the satisfaction of patients, now extend to over 500,000 members, and encompass more than 3,700 patient-centered physicians at 900 practice locations.

“Horizon’s goal is to assist doctors in providing their patients with the most effective and efficient treatment possible, and COTA has the potential to become a powerful tool to help them do that,” said Glenn D. Pomerantz, MD, JD, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Horizon BCBSNJ. “In the molecular age of medicine, the data COTA provides can give doctors a clearer picture of how to most effectively treat their patients, so we see this as an investment to further transform how health plans and doctors collaborate to improve safety and patient outcomes.”

Built with the contributions of over 100 practicing oncologists as well as national leaders in cancer biostatistics and health care reimbursement, COTA generates actionable clinical data to improve decision-making among all partners in the care of a cancer patient. The data produced by COTA provides a clinical taxonomy for patients to be categorized and sorted to ensure they receive the right treatment.

As part of Horizon BCBSNJ’s investment in COTA, Dr. Pomerantz will join COTA’s board of directors, as well as a second appointee from Horizon BCBSNJ who will be named at a later date.

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