The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and its 38 independent, locally based companies envision a transformed healthcare system that provides people with the best, most affordable care possible. To build tomorrow’s healthcare system, we must take comprehensive action to reward quality and safety and tackle rising healthcare costs.
The Blue Cross and Blue Shield System is working locally across the country to help people stay well and ensure that, when they do get sick, healthcare is safe, coordinated, evidence-based and affordable. To achieve these goals on a larger scale, we propose a comprehensive, interconnected action plan with specific recommendations that the government should take to:
1. Reward Safety: National and local leadership along with new provider incentives are needed to eliminate preventable medical errors, infections and complications that cause tens of thousands of people to die each year.
2. Do What Works: The incentives in our system must be changed to advance the best possible care and reward quality outcomes, instead of paying for more services that are ineffective or redundant and add unnecessary costs to the system.
3. Reinforce Front-Line Care: A higher value must be placed on primary care and on ensuring there is an adequate workforce of professionals to deliver necessary, timely and coordinated care that results in better outcomes and lower costs.
4. Inspire Healthy Living: With 75 percent of today’s healthcare dollar spent on the treatment of chronic illnesses — many of which are preventable — consumers must be empowered and encouraged to make better choices, live healthier lives and better manage their health.
This document provides representative examples, but is not exhaustive of what the 38 independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies are doing to help transform the U.S. healthcare system. As leaders in the healthcare community for more than 80 years, serving all 50 states and federal territories and offering coverage in every market and every ZIP code, we are committed to collaborating with all stakeholders — consumers, hospitals, physicians, payers and policymakers — to build tomorrow’s healthcare system today.
