CHAPEL HILL -- Merscom announced Thursday that its social drinking game, Drinking Buddies, is set for release this week.
Drinking Buddies, developed by ChaYoWo Games, will be published on Facebook and will encourage players to socialize with friends by sharing customizable drinks.
Drinking Buddies allows players to increase their popularity among friends by sending them custom-made drinks and personalized messages. The company also said that players will be challenged to "stay in a state of equilibrium" by consuming both alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks.
The Chapel Hill games company is leveraging Drinking Buddies as a key part of its social gaming strategy.
"Based on how comparable games have performed on other social media networks, I am confident Drinking Buddies will generate very strong MAU," said Lloyd Melnick, chief customer officer for Merscom, " and that will provide a great springboard for some of our upcoming games."
Reimbursement change at BCBS
CHAPEL HILL -- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is introducing a new reimbursement model for primary care physicians wherein higher payments will be offered to those who improve their quality of patient care.
Under the Blue Quality Physician Program, about 4,000 primary care physicians across the state have been invited to apply for the higher reimbursement structure.
Participating physicians who meet a set of criteria that includes nationally recognized, evidence-based standards for quality of care are eligible for reimbursement that offers double-digit increases over BCBSNC's standard fee schedule for some of their most commonly billed codes, the health insurer said.
Those standards include: Clinical quality outcomes, which includes recognitions by the National Committee for Quality Assurance; use of electronic prescribing and other quality-related standards; Administrative efficiency, including electronic claims submission; Patient experience with care, which measures the physician's ability to provide such patient-centered needs as after-hours care and electronic visits.
No Pepsi ads in 2010 Super Bowl
MILWAUKEE -- Pepsi's Super Bowl streak is over after a 23-year run.
Ads for the drinks won't appear in next year's Super Bowl on CBS. Instead, the company plans to shift ad dollars to a new marketing effort that's mostly online.
Pepsi was one of the biggest advertisers in last year's game and has advertised every year since 1987. Frito-Lay, a unit of parent company PepsiCo Inc., will still have Super Bowl commercials this year.
The company, which is based in Purchase, N.Y., spent $33 million advertising products like Pepsi, Gatorade, and Cheetos last year during the Super Bowl, according to TNS Media Intelligence, $15 million of it on Pepsi alone. Ad time last year for the NFL championship game cost about $3 million for 30 seconds, on average.
-- From staff, wire reports
