Excellus BlueCross BlueShield Document Services embraces QR codes and dimensional print

By Erik Cagle

Incorporating QR Codes

Catherine Ciardi has found that less is more when it comes to the use of QR codes. The director of Document Services for Excellus BlueCross BlueShield had been following their development with interest and pounced on the opportunity to incorporate them into her in-plant’s capabilities.

One of the biggest coups was a postcard mailing that drove end users to BCBS’s Website to access the insurer’s medical care provider directory. The hard copy directories were virtually eliminated, which saved BCBS more than $300,000 in printing and mailing costs. The QR code was later added to the postcard to provide another access opportunity for the customer.

Another plus was the consolidation of explanation of benefits statements from a per individual basis to a single monthly health care summary. The use of QR codes on monthly summaries has been a popular application in the health care market, according to Ciardi.

Cross-media marketing opportunities are another possibility for Document Services. The in-plant worked in tandem with another BCBS department to create a YouTube sales commercial, and that video spot was marketed via a QR code embedded in a magazine advertisement.

“It was a lot of fun to do, and I think [QR codes] have a lot of potential,” Ciardi observes.

The in-plant has started putting QR codes on the monthly summaries it prints.

In this digital age, not everyone views the subject of printing in an optimistic light. But Catherine Ciardi feels she has the perfect surfboard underneath her to navigate and tame the wave of the future.

Don’t bother checking Ciardi’s prescription; she has ample reason to look ahead to tomorrow with what some may consider rose-colored glasses. The director of Document Services for Excellus BlueCross BlueShield (BCBS) in Rochester, N.Y., Ciardi has the people, processes and technology in place to meet the needs of one of the nation’s largest medical insurers (6,000 employees, 1.7 million subscribers) while ensuring the future of the 55-employee in-plant.

In-plant Snapshot

Excellus BlueCross BlueShield
Rochester, N.Y.
Employees: 55

Key Equipment:

Five-color Kodak NexPress 2500 digital color press with Nexstation front end and inline Watkiss Vario bookletmaker
Océ VarioPrint 6250 printer
Océ VarioPrint 2110 printer
Two Océ VarioPrint 5160 MICR check printers
Three Océ 7650cx digital presses
Xerox DocuTech 6180
Oki Data C9850 envelope printer with stream feeder
Eight-color, 60˝ HP Designjet Z6100 wide-format printer
Two Océ high-capacity stackers
LaserMax Roll Systems unwinding, slitting, stacking and cutting equipment
Duplo DC-645 cutter/trimmer/slicer
Challenge CMT-330 trimmer
Challenge 265 paper cutter
KeenCut Excalibur 500 wide-format cutter
Océ BLM500 book maker (up to 50 sheets)
Océ BLM200 book maker
C.P. Bourg BB3302 perfect binder
IBIS Smart-Binder booklet maker
IBIS ASCF signature collection feeder
Baum 2020 paper folder
25˝ GBC 4250 tabletop laminator
Pitney Bowes APS inserter
Pitney Bowes 8 Series inserter
Three Pitney Bowes DM mail machines
Böwe Bell & Howell Criterion barcode sorter

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