Blue Plans and Lumeris Complete Acquisition of Nation's Largest Real-Time Health Care Communication Network

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - Mar 14, 2012) - Three of the nation's leading Blue health plans, Highmark, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey (Horizon), and Independence Blue Cross (IBC), along with health IT provider Lumeris Corp., announced today they have closed their transaction and finalized their arrangement to acquire NaviNet. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

"Each of these health care companies is committed to making accountable care a reality in this country," said NaviNet's president and CEO Bradley J. Waugh. "This partnership will provide doctors with the robust tools needed for accountable care to improve outcomes, enhance patient safety, and increase physician and patient satisfaction, while lowering overall health care costs."

Today, NaviNet speeds and simplifies more than 50 kinds of administrative, financial, and clinical transactions among three-quarters of America's physicians, 3,800 hospitals, and dozens of the nation's largest health insurers, including Highmark, Horizon, and IBC. The acquisition will position NaviNet to expand the customers served by its real-time communications network.

Through the new partnership, NaviNet will leverage its real-time communication network and Lumeris' accountable care delivery platform to drive the adoption of new accountable care models throughout the country. All over the nation, health plans, including Highmark, Horizon, and IBC, are developing new value-based payment models that reward physicians for highly coordinated, high-quality, more cost-effective care. The integration of NaviNet and Lumeris' capabilities will allow plans to develop next generation accountable care delivery systems to contain costs and improve quality, while continuing to handle administrative transactions easily and efficiently.

"This new partnership is a great example of forward-thinking organizations working together to generate positive change, leverage the most modern technology, and activate the brightest minds in our industry," said Daniel J. Hilferty, president and CEO of Independence Blue Cross. "By acquiring NaviNet together, we are taking an important step toward transforming the delivery of health care in our country."

Highmark, Horizon, and IBC work with more than 70,000 physicians and hospitals to deliver care to more than 11 million people.

"The combination of NaviNet and Lumeris technology and services will enable health plans to more aptly engage and collaborate with providers, delivering them critical clinical and financial information and applications they need to more effectively manage the quality and cost of care," said Mike Long, CEO of Lumeris. "This innovative cloud-based solution will be fundamental to the success of payer-led accountable care initiatives nationwide."

About NaviNet
NaviNet, America's largest real-time health care communications network, securely links leading health plans, industry partners and the government to hundreds of thousands of physicians, clinicians and other health care professionals. More than 75 percent of the nation's physicians are enrolled in the NaviNet Network, which touches 121 million covered lives. NaviNet's care collaboration solutions and services for unified patient information management (UPIM) address the full lifecycle of health care data management by providing single-source access to patient-centric administrative, financial and clinical information to reduce costs, increase efficiencies and improve quality of care. For more information, or to sign up for NaviNet, please visit http://www.NaviNet.net or call 617-715-6000 or 1-800-805-7569.

About Lumeris
Lumeris provides the information technology, guidance, and operational services necessary for health plans and hospitals to transform their organizations into high-performing accountable delivery systems. The company's revolutionary Accountable Delivery Platform integrates data from disparate systems across the continuum of care, provides complete visibility into the clinical and financial performance of the enterprise, and delivers applications and information to key stakeholders and providers at the point of thought. Lumeris was launched five years ago by a team of health care and technology leaders led by John Doerr, a leading venture capitalist who has launched some of the world's most successful companies, including Google, Amazon and WebMD. To learn more visit www.lumeris.com or call 1-888-LUMERIS.

About Independence Blue Cross
Independence Blue Cross is the leading health insurer in southeastern Pennsylvania. Nationwide, Independence Blue Cross and its affiliates provide coverage to nearly 3.1 million people. For 74 years, Independence Blue Cross has offered high-quality health care coverage tailored to meet the changing needs of members, employers, and health care professionals. Independence Blue Cross's HMO and PPO health care plans have consistently received the highest ratings from the National Committee for Quality Assurance. Independence Blue Cross is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Visit us at ibx.com. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @ibx.

About Highmark
Highmark, Inc., based in Pittsburgh, is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans. Highmark serves 4.8 million members in Pennsylvania and West Virginia through the company's health care benefits business and is one of the largest Blue plans in the nation. Highmark has 19,500 employees across the country. For more than 70 years, Highmark's commitment to the community has consistently been among the company's highest priorities as it strives to positively impact the communities where we do business. For more information, visit www.highmark.com.

About Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, the state's oldest and largest health insurer, is a tax-paying, not-for-profit health services corporation, providing a wide array of medical, dental, and prescription insurance products and services. Horizon BCBSNJ is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, serving more than 3.6 million members with headquarters in Newark and offices in Wall, Mt. Laurel, and West Trenton. Learn more at www.HorizonBlue.com.