To fulfill the CareFirst promise to “make health care easier,” the company intensified efforts to provide members with information about preventing and coping with chronic diseases in 2002. The continuing program focuses on the most effective strategies to enhance care and outcomes for those with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, asthma, renal disease and similar conditions. Through chronic care management strategies, spending on such care was reduced by $11 million in 2002. Delaware’s provider internet utilization grew dramatically in 2002 with the number of providers registered increasing 40% and the total number of transactions performed increasing from 143,000 in 2001 to 323,000 in 2002. To improve information exchanges between CareFirst and area hospitals, new technology was tested last year that allows hospitals to confirm eligibility, enter admission data, request authorizations for care and receive status reports in real time. By early 2003, 80 percent of the local hospital authorizations will be processed online.