Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey will create a medical partnership, according to My Central Jersey.
Under the partnership, the organizations are collaborating on more than 14 projects spanning research on cancer screenings, flu vaccinations, climate change's effects on health, and virtual reality devices as a pain management treatment. The projects fall under one of three categories: clinical collaboration, research and policy, and analytics and integration.
Each category will have co-chairs who are top subject-matter and policy experts from both Rutgers and Horizon. Other project topics include proton beam therapy effectiveness — which payers have mixed opinions on — cognitive rehabilitation in multiple sclerosis, and antibiotics.
"Our challenge from the beginning was to create a process and oversight structure that gave Rutgers and Horizon an equal voice in selecting projects and deciding how best to organize the project selection," Brian Strom, MD, chancellor of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, told My Central Jersey. "We ultimately decided to create three buckets of projects and to assign experts as chairs and co-chairs from both Rutgers and Horizon. These chairs and co-chairs meet formally during the year and are managing the work streams and timelines for the projects, from conception to conclusion."
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