Tag Archive for 'Blue Cross Blue Shield Association'

Hospital quality program successful for Blue Cross and Blue Shield

Published on November 24, 2008 in BCBSNC. 0 Comments Tags: , .

The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association has been victorious with their hospital quality program. The association revealed at a news conference recently that patient outcomes have significantly improved, and costs have been diminished.

The program has been implemented in 45 states with certified centers containing four categories: cardiac care, bariatric surgery, transplants and complicated and rare cancers. There are 800 programs at 650 hospitals within 45 states.

Establishments using the program have shown a 26 percent lower rate for bypass surgery readmission and a 37 percent lower rated for outpatient angioplasty readmission. All this has occurred within an astonishing 30 days. This was revealed in a study by WellPoint on 41,000 patients. Also, bypass procedure costs at these hospitals came to be five percent less than facilities that did not take part in the study, and outpatient angioplasty costs were an amazing 12 percent lower.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Association begins new plan designed to contain healthcare costs and improve care

Published on November 3, 2008 in Health Insurance. 0 Comments Tags: .

In the New York Times (10/18,B2) Saturday interview column, during an interview with Scott Serota, who is the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s president and chief executive, Elizabeth Olson discussed the association’s new “four point initiative aimed at containing healthcare costs and improving care.” Serota said that the association’s new plan is geared towards “the real underlying issue of healthcare reform, “which is that the entire healthcare delivery system needs to be modified.” In doing this, one goal would be that “healthcare costs rise no faster than any other goods and services.”

By “improving the underlying system,” Serota said that the association can get rid of care that is “unnecessary, redundant and, in some cases, even harmful.” Ensuring that everyone has healthcare coverage is another goal. 

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association supports working with “people who are eligible for government programs but are not enrolling” and developing “new products like high-deductible plans to attract people who think they will never get sick” to expand coverage. Serota also said that the association will put out yearly benchmarks to measure “what gets done.”