Your quarterly update from GeoBlue® A Holiday Message... As the year draws to a close, we send our warmest wishes to you and your loved ones. May this holiday season bring you peace, joy, and countless moments to cherish.   Meet Our Newest Partner We’re excited to announce we’ve partnered with Cowan Benefits Ltd. to bring our members an enhanced healthcare experience in Canada. Members who aren’t eligible for a Canadian Provincial and Territorial (P/T) plan can now leverage Cowan's strong healthcare network, direct settlement capabilities and claims processing while seeking care in Canada. Cowan can also help eligible members enroll in a P/T plan and coordinate payable benefits between the P/T plan and this plan. Here’s how the coverage works: In Canada Members in Canada will receive a Cowan Pay-Direct card and should register for the Cowan Member Site for plan information in Canada. In the U.S. When these members are in the U.S., they should present their Blue Cross Blue Shield Global® card. Rest of the world When these members are accessing care outside of Canada and the U.S., they should use their Bupa card. Our members can feel confident they’re getting high-quality coverage in Canada along with the rest of the world! Reach out to your GeoBlue sales representative to learn more about this partnership with Cowan. Meet the GeoBlue Medical Staff Spotlight on Dr. Damian Cornacchia As Senior Medical Director, Dr. Damian Cornacchia oversees other medical directors and coordinates schedules, reviews, case discussions and process improvements. He also collaborates with other departments such as Marketing and Sales for presentations; Fraud, Waste and Abuse for cases which have potential issues; Appeals; Claims; the Global Service Center and GeoBlue’s Executive Leadership Team. In his role, Damian works closely with the Director of Clinical Operations, providing guidance and recommendations to the Medical Review Team. He played an instrumental role in GeoBlue receiving the contract to manage the Overseas Assistance Center for the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Federal Employee Program (FEP) and earning URAC accreditation for health utilization management. He also helped lead the team through the COVID-19 pandemic and has participated in various product implementations. Damian is Board Certified in Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine. He received his B.S. in Biology from Widener University and his D.O. and Board Certification in Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. For the first 15 years of his career, he practiced emergency medicine as director of an ER department. From there, Damian transitioned to hospitalist medicine, working not only in acute care hospitals but also long-term acute care hospitals where he was the Medical Director. He completed his bedside career with seven years as an intensivist (a doctor who takes care of intensive care level patients). He often interacted with insurance companies regarding utilization management and was invited to join several meetings and committees for process improvement. Damian joined GeoBlue in 2017 as only the second Medical Director in our company’s history. He provides a unique perspective, applying his years of medical and administrative experiences to the international healthcare industry. We’re grateful for his dedication to our team and members all over the world! Enhanced Member Communications As part of our commitment to simplifying our members’ international healthcare experience, we’re launching a new member email journey and step-by-step how-to videos. Here’s what members will receive:   Member email journey We'll send expat members 23 emails throughout their first year of joining our GeoBlue family. The emails will be personalized, tailored for specific groups and will cover all phases of a member’s journey and how they experience GeoBlue. Members will learn how to register, where to access care, how to submit claims and more. How-to videos To accompany the email journey, we’ve also created a handful of how-to videos to help guide members through parts of the Member Hub and mobile app. The videos show exactly how to use these online tools to submit a claim, request direct settlement, use the prescription drug mail order service and other key features. We’ll be adding to this video library on an ongoing basis to support members in using these tools, so they have the best possible experience. Check out the current library of videos here. Reach out to your GeoBlue Client Manager for more information.   Catch the Headlines: Be among the first to hear about news and issues impacting the globally mobile Grab a Seat: Register for upcoming events and webinars featuring relevant topics and industry experts Get to Know Us: Catch snippets of who we are and how we’re simplifying the international healthcare experience Missed our live webinars? View them on The Pulse LIVE archive page. Contact our sales team to learn more about our group health plans and services. Want to refer to a previous issue of The Pulse? Visit our archive page. Blue Cross Blue Shield Global® is a Brand owned by Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. GeoBlue is the trade name of Worldwide Insurance Services, LLC (Worldwide Services Insurance Agency, LLC in California and New York), an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association: made available in cooperation with Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies in select service areas. Coverage is provided under insurance policies underwritten by 4 Ever Life Insurance Company, Oakbrook Terrace, IL, NAIC #80985. 4 Ever Life Insurance Company is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Cowan Benefits Ltd. and Cowan Insurance Group and related words, logos, and names of products and services offered are trade names, trademarks, or registered trademarks of Princeton Holdings Limited. Any unauthorized use of any of these trade names or trademarks is prohibited. CORP197150-MEM-12/24