Blue Cross Blue Shield Association CEO: Blues System Forging Stronger U.S. Health Care System
Daniel J. Loepp
| 2 min read
Daniel J. Loepp is President and Chief Executive Off...
In this era of online Marketplaces, expanded coverage, and new models for providing and paying for care, it’s hard to overstate it: Our health care system is undergoing seismic change here in the United States. And I’m proud to lead a company that is part of a nationwide system pushing to put patients first.
Scott Serota, the president and CEO of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, wrote this week in The Hill, a daily publication covering Washington, D.C., about the work going on to ensure that our health care system operates more efficiently, at lower cost, and with better patient outcomes. The BCBSA is a national federation of 37 Blues plans, including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, that provide coverage options in all 50 states. In his piece, Serota discusses the Blues system’s pioneering work to shift hospital payments from the long-standing fee-for-service model, where doctors bill based on the number of tests or procedures performed, to one more closely aligned with quality and successful patient outcomes:
What started as a few small initiatives many years ago has grown to a portfolio of more than 570 locally developed, quality care programs across the country, providing patient-focused care to more than 25 million of our customers. Community by community, Blue Cross and Blue Shield health plans are working aggressively to improve healthcare quality and rein in costs, and have tied more than $71 billion in medical claims (one in five dollars spent annually) to programs that focus on prevention, wellness, improving access to care, disease management and coordinated care delivery.
Serota’s op-ed is highly worthwhile reading. You can also learn more about what we’re doing at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan to improve health care delivery here. Daniel J. Loepp is president and chief executive officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
