NATICK, Mass.--Jan. 6, 2003-- edocs, Inc., a leading provider of customer self-service and e-billing software solutions, today announced that it has entered into a national agreement with Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA). Under the agreement, BCBSA will promote edocs' solutions and services and share best practices across its 42 independent member Plans. The edocs platform has already been deployed at multiple Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans to date, including Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and Independence Blue Cross, and edocs is working closely with several other Blue Plans to help them leverage the technology. edocs' customer self-service and e-billing solutions enable healthcare insurers to significantly reduce the cost and time required to manage customer service, billing and reconciliation issues. By empowering members, employers, providers and brokers to manage the complete range of account-related tasks online, edocs' solutions effectively deflect call center inquiries and improve operational efficiencies. "In an effort to support the technology and ebusiness initiatives among our membership, the Association looks to identify leading solutions in areas that are vital to our member Plans," said Jody Voss, BCBSA Executive Director of Business Development. "edocs' solutions have been deployed at multiple Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans and their applications offer strong functionality that independent Blue Plans can leverage as they continue to implement their consumer-focused strategies." Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota CIO John Ounjian, sees the BCBSA agreement providing significant benefit to his organization and the other Plans already using the edocs technology. "We selected edocs because its solution was the best fit for us," he said. "Now, this agreement makes that an even better choice because it formalizes the ability to share best practices and combine user requirements with the other member Plans. Additionally, those Plans that select the edocs technology going forward get these benefits from the start." "Healthcare insurers face difficult challenges balancing the demands for better service with the rapid rise in healthcare costs," said Jim Moran, Executive Vice President and Co-founder of edocs. "Our self-service and e-billing solutions enable a superior customer experience while dramatically reducing support costs, and improving billing and payment processing at the same time. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association's selection of edocs is an important validation of the efficacy of our healthcare solutions and the value they offer insurers and their customers."