Company: Cambia, Portland, OR
Company Description: Cambia is a nonprofit total health solutions company based in the Pacific Northwest/Intermountain region. Through insurance, wellness, and consumer engagement products and services, Cambia promotes health and helps people make informed decisions about their health care. Cambia's "Blues" health insurance plans serve more than 2.2 million members in Oregon, Washington (select counties), Idaho and U
Nomination Category: Products & Product Management Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Product Development/Management Department or Team of the Year

Nomination Title: Regence Commercial Product Team

Tell the story about what this nominated department or team achieved since January 1 2011 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

The Product Development team at Regence BlueCross BlueShield is being revitalized.

“Healthcare reform requires innovative thinking and radical process shifts,” says Bill Bradley, Vice President of Commercial Products. “The Affordable Care Act has an ambitious goal—to cover 40 million uninsured through the creation of state-based exchanges—a challenge for an insurance industry that’s been operating essentially the same way for five decades.”

To meet the challenge, Bradley created the Standardized Product Launch Process, or SPLP. It allows for controlled customization yet produces a level of standardization that is well understood by business partners. It reduces time to market and promotes entrepreneurial ownership in the process and outcomes.

It includes:

•Three “Champion” roles. Called “Champions” to reflect accountability for holding and managing project energy, there’s one for each SPLP stage:

o Product Development Champion. Keen market insight, creative product development, and clear definition of customer requirements are critical in the tightly-regulated post-reform environment. This disciplined upstream work “sets the DNA” for consumer engagement downstream.
o Product Implementation Champion. Works with all internal stakeholders, ensuring that Regence’s systems are ready, 400+ procedures have been reviewed and tested, and business partners are prepared to engage intelligently with customers.
o Product Marketing Champion. Works with Regence’s larger Brand Marketing team to create compelling communications that educate and enlighten internal and external audiences.

• Solidifying cross-functional relationships. We clearly defined timelines, responsibilities, expectations, and hand-offs with critical partners—such as the Compliance and Information Technology teams – streamlining work-flow, saving time and money.

•Development of the “POWER Grid” to capture a °360 product view. Now a company-wide best practice, the Product Overview With Essential Requirements Grid is an evolution of a standard “Product Roadmap” into a comprehensive product guide, capturing key technical and legislative intelligence.

•“Guerilla” socialization tactics. Internal socialization of the process and the projects progressing under it was key. “Watercoolering” is a tactic which leverages “water cooler” conversations. Every week the team identifies key department “talking points” and communicates them to five coworkers outside the team. It’s a fresh, impactful way to drive concepts through the organization.

Using the SPLP in product development has led to significant improvements within the products being developed.

“Once we started working smarter, we discovered ways to serve our customers better, improve member experience, and offer additional choice and cost savings,” says Bradley.

And besides the SPLP cost savings, Regence has added thousands of members representing over $44 million in annual revenue. Regence’s 2011 products are more affordable, more customizable, and more personalized to the consumer, and include:

•Employee Choice allows small businesses to provide “big company benefits at a small company price.”
•Focused Networks allow consumers to save money by choosing a limited number of doctors—or buy up to a larger network.
•BluePoint provides 5-15% cost savings over comparable products in the UT market.

“Regence has hit a home run with its new products,” says a leading insurance broker, noting that Regence is considered “an innovative provider in the marketplace.”

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Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated department or team:

Bill Bradley, with almost twenty years Marketing experience, is currently the Vice President of Product Management at the Regence Group, a health insurer with over 2 million customers in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Mr. Bradley has been recognized as a key leader in Regence, and during his 14 years at Intel Corporation, as in the top 1% of performing managers.

Mr. Bradley is currently a board member of Business for Culture & the Arts (BCA), a non-profit organization that connects Oregon businesses with local arts organizations to champion participation in the arts.