BCBS NJ Logo
Horizon is committed to working with leading medical minds and clinical technologies to pioneer innovating approaches to better understand and treat serious diseases on behalf of our 3.8 million members.
Newark, NJ (PRWEB) April 28, 2016
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey (Horizon BCBNSNJ), which is has been collaborating with doctors and hospitals to make transformative changes in how health care is delivered and financed in New Jersey, will join the world’s leading cell therapy minds this week in discussing breakthroughs in cellular medicine to treat disease. After accepting an invitation to speak at Cellular Horizons, The Vatican's Third International Conference on the Progress of Regenerative Medicine and Its Cultural Impact, Horizon BCBSNJ Chief Medical Officer Glenn Pomerantz, MD, will present tomorrow, Friday, April 29.
In a panel discussion called “Rationalizing Health Care Through Big Data" and moderated by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Dr. Pomerantz will discuss collaborative relationships that Horizon has formed, and innovative tools that are being deployed, to better diagnose and treat cancers in their molecular form. Horizon BCBSNJ is collaborating with Regional Cancer Care Associates in an oncology Episode of Care Program with Horizon BCBSNJ members that features a cutting edge platform developed by COTA, Inc. to precisely categorize patient factors, their diseases and intended therapies to measure treatment outcomes and optimize care. Horizon BCBSNJ is also working with Foundation Medicine, Inc., a molecular information company, on a clinical study that uses genomic profiling to enable physicians to make treatment decisions for patients with cancer by identifying the molecular growth drivers of their cancers.
“The goal is to improve both the success rate and the patient experience by matching the right treatment protocol to the specific characteristics of that patient and the cancer they have,” said Dr. Pomerantz. “The data platforms Horizon is exploring allow for a more precise way to measure and understand clinical data. The better we understand this data, the better the potential to identify approaches to diagnostic testing and treatment that are optimally matched to a patient’s condition.
“When we are able to do that, we achieve the triple aim of improving outcomes and patient experience while reducing costs by matching patients to effective testing and treatment.”
Horizon BCBSNJ Senior Vice President of Healthcare Management Allen Karp added, “Horizon is committed to working with leading medical minds and clinical technologies to pioneer innovating approaches to better understand and treat serious diseases on behalf of our 3.8 million members.”
Dr. Pomerantz’ panel, scheduled for 2:00 pm tomorrow, will also include Dr. Andrew Pecora, COTA founder and executive chairman, and chief innovations officer and vice president of cancer services at Hackensack University Medical Center, and Steven Kafka, Ph.D., president and chief operating officer for Foundation Medicine.
Hosted by the Vatican's Pontifical Council For Culture, The Stem For Life Foundation and the STOQ Foundation, this exclusive, three-day, international event will gather the world's leading cell therapy scientists, physicians, patients, ethicists and leaders of faith, government and philanthropy to discuss the latest cellular therapy breakthroughs as well as hope for the future. Attended by Holy Father Pope Francis, moderated by renowned journalists and broadcasted around the world, the 2016 event will have a unique focus on pediatric cancers and rare genetic diseases, as well as diseases that occur with aging.
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 service corporation, providing a wide array of medical, dental, and prescription insurance products and services. Horizon BCBSNJ is leading the transformation of health care in New Jersey by working with doctors and hospitals to deliver innovative, patient-centered programs that reward the quality, not quantity, of care patients receive. Learn more at http://www.HorizonBlue.com. Horizon BCBSNJ is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association serving more than 3.8 million members.
About The Stem For Life Foundation (SFLF):
The Stem For Life Foundation (SFLF) is the educational and advocacy subsidiary of The Cura Foundation and is devoted to fostering global awareness of the potential for regenerative medicine to treat and cure a range of deadly diseases and debilitating medical conditions, as opposed to merely treating their symptoms. The Foundation stands at the forefront of a fundamental shift away from traditional drug treatment in favor of amplifying the body's natural repair mechanisms to vanquish disease. For more information on the Stem For Life Foundation, please visit http://www.stemforlife.org. To follow the Vatican event on Twitter, please join the conversation @StemForLife or via the hashtag #UNITETOCURE.
About COTA, Inc.
COTA is the health care informatics company that builds research-grade, real-world data to exponentially improve outcomes, reduce cost and ensure the right care for the right patient every time. The patented COTA Nodal Address System (CNA) is the first and only digital classification system that transforms prognostically significant variables into a digital code—precisely categorizing patient factors, their diseases and intended therapies to measure treatment outcomes, identify variances in care and enable quality benchmarking, research, discovery and the transition to value-based medicine.
For more information, please visit http://www.oncota.com. COTA — Best Care Made Clear.™
About Foundation Medicine
Foundation Medicine is a molecular information company dedicated to a transformation in cancer care in which treatment is informed by a deep understanding of the genomic changes that contribute to each patient's unique cancer. The company's clinical assays, FoundationOne® for solid tumors and FoundationOne® Heme for hematologic malignancies and sarcomas, provide a comprehensive genomic profile to identify the molecular alterations in a patient's cancer and match them with relevant targeted therapies and clinical trials. Foundation Medicine's molecular information platform aims to improve day-to-day care for patients by serving the needs of clinicians, academic researchers and drug developers to help advance the science of molecular medicine in cancer. For more information, please visit http://www.FoundationMedicine.com or follow Foundation Medicine on Twitter (@FoundationATCG).
###