"These are all very tangible and meaningful measures of benefits we’ve received from our IT investment," Bowser says.

BCBSKC’s IT department is the brains behind a pilot program launched this year that is designed to help BCBSKC customers reduce their health insurance premiums—and help BCBSKC cut its costs—through customized wellness programs.

Under the program, called "A Healthier You," customers can save $120 per year on their health insurance premiums. Individuals enroll online and provide their personal health information, including family medical history, data such as blood sugar and cholesterol levels, and any health concerns that may not show up in their medical records, such as depression or a nagging pain.

Once a certain number of individuals from a group (such as a company) are enrolled in the program, BCBSKC aggregates individuals’ health information to identify common health problems within the group’s population. Individuals within the group are given information on how to take care of the health risks BCBSKC has identified (collectively improving these problems means reduced group premiums). Meanwhile, BCBSKC electronically sends the information to the nurses and doctors who work with the individuals, so they can support the insurers’ recommendations.

CIO talked with Bowser about his evolving appreciation of IT, his relationship with Sparks and his philosophy about how technology should support BCBSKC now and in the future.

CIO: How did you become convinced that IT could contribute strategically?

Tom Bowser: The epiphany kind of occurred back in 1997. Our company had problems well beyond our IT problems and because of delays and cost overruns, IT was looked on as a burden rather than a solution. The thing that has changed since then is that we have abandoned the philosophy of "We have to build everything ourselves." We have become happy to be wise purchasers of software from other companies. It was a philosophical hurdle for our IT shop and for our company, but it’s a hurdle that we’re glad we passed. [Today] our partners have financial incentives that are aligned with developing software to serve our [industry’s] market needs and demands. Our IT team can integrate and configure the software to meet our [regional] market demands and stay focused on the needs of our customer base.

We’re not big enough to make gambles, but we are smart enough and nimble enough to monitor what’s going on and to adopt new technologies that work for us. We’re proud of our track record for a company our size.