CHATTANOOGA, TN – BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee will provide tailored health and wellness information to its members through interactive, automated phone calls.

The goal is to drive behavior change, officials said.

BCBST, which serves about 3 million members in Tennessee, tapped the Beverly, Mass.-based Eliza Corp., a provider of integrated healthcare communication strategies, for the project. Eliza will communicate with BCBST members on a variety of topics such as chronic condition management, preventive screening reminders and medication support.

David Marckel, director of corporate systems at BCBST, said the health insurer selected Eliza for the project based on the quality of its outreach.

"Knowing that these automated calls would reflect the BCBST brand, it was important for us to choose a solution that would offer our members a positive experience," he said. "For us, that means a natural, conversational approach and an authentic tone that engages people, connects them with health information and resources we offer and maybe even helps them forget they're talking to a computer."

Eliza executives say their programs have had a positive impact on health and well being, including driving more active lifestyles in children at risk for obesity, increasing participation in smoking cessation programs, boosting medication adherence rates and driving member retention.

Eliza's Continuity of Care Record (CCR) capabilities will support portable consumer health records.

"We've trained our technology and optimized our approach to help address the challenges that so many of us in healthcare see every day – cost-effectively delivering better health outcomes through data-driven, engaging interactions that actually inspire and enable members to change their behavior," said Lucas Merrow, co-founder and CEO of Eliza.