Regence's Social Media Web Site Gets a Facelift

PORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Online community member Emimi shares the frustration of trying to get pregnant. During her ordeal, she discovered that the support of an online community and talking to others in her same situation helped her to deal with her health related challenges. When she finally did become pregnant, she wanted to make sure and provide that same support to others. She did so by logging on to the My Community section of myRegence.com, the health insurance company's health and wellness Web site, and shared her story and support virtually.

"I know how frustrating it is," she wrote on a Trying to Get Pregnant thread of the message board. "It took us 3 1/2 years. The only thing I can say is try and relax as much as possible. Even small rises in stress can have a negative effect on fertility. It sounds like you are doing everything right from what I know. Have fun trying too. Good luck!!"

"Emimi's participation in My Community is exactly what we hope our members will do," said Torben Nielsen, director of Consumer-Directed Health Systems for Regence. "We incorporated My Community in myRegence.com to help members find support and be able to communicate with other members and experts on health related topics important to them - all in a safe, secure, online environment. An online environment already designed to provide members with health related tools, resources and information to take charge for their own health."

My Community was recently upgraded to provide an improved social media experience. Members now have an option to customize layouts, use a more robust editor to create their posts, "friend" other community members, share status updates to what they are doing and the like.

My Community participation currently has close to 50,000 postings in message boards, averaging well over 2,000 messages a month from the 500,000+ members logged on to myRegence.com. Popular topics being discussed include weight loss, parenting and notably so, pregnancy.

Members can log on to myRegence.com anytime and begin actively participating in My Community. Non-Regence members can also try out My Community and the rest of myRegence.com with the site's Guest Pass functionality, using guest pass code: guest.

Background on myRegence.com
myRegence.com is designed to help advise members on health care and lifestyle options, provide navigation through the health care system and reward those who make healthier choices. With myRegence.com, members can find all of their health-related resources in one place, including claims information, fitness and nutrition tips, medication summaries and other helpful information. Members can even earn Regence Reward points --redeemable for gift certificates to hundreds of retailers -- just for actively taking charge of their health.

About Regence
Regence is the largest health insurer in the Northwest/Intermountain Region, offering health, life and dental insurance. Regence serves three million members as Regence BlueShield (in selected counties in Washington), Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah and Regence BlueShield of Idaho. Each health plan is a not-for-profit independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Regence is committed to improving the health of our members and our communities, and to transforming our health care system. For more information, please visit regence.com.

Regence is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.