Paul A. Bluestein, MD, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, ConnectiCare

Paul A. Bluestein
Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer
ConnectiCare
Farmington, Conn.

The health plan has accepted full responsibility for its DM programs rather than outsourcing them. "Chronic disease management should be a core objective of a managed care organization," he says, "central to its mission and value system."

The health plan received full DM accreditation from the National Committee for Quality Assurance, which Dr. Bluestein says demonstrates that ConnectiCare can provide value and be recognized by a third-party evaluator. "We have proved that even though we are a small, local health plan, we can still operate as though we are national," he says. The plan also received certification for savings measurement validity for all chronic diseases from DMPC and was awarded top honors in 2005 as a "Leading Disease Management Organization" from HIRC.

Dr. Bluestein predicts that DM will adopt a broader definition and move beyond traditional member stratification and instead, focus on members at-risk and emphasize wellness and disease prevention.

Prior to joining ConnectiCare in 1994, Dr. Bluestein was vice president of managed care for NYH Care Network, a subsidiary of New York Hospital, and national medical director and national director of quality improvement for the MetLife Managed Care Services Group. He received both his undergraduate and medical degrees from Temple University.