Blue Cross Getting Better Health Results for Customers

More customers are getting better health results through Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana’s Quality Blue Primary Care program – designed to focus care on the patient, give primary care doctors better data and hold down costs.

Blue Cross leadership shared data that show the program is leading to strong improvements for chronic diseases common in Louisiana and delivering strong primary care at a lower monthly cost. This presentation was part of the second Quality Blue Primary Care Statewide Collaborative, Thursday, Oct. 29, at the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center. The collaborative was accompanied by viewers from watch parties in Lafayette, Monroe, New Orleans and Shreveport. 

“Chronic illnesses affect more than half of Louisianians and account for almost 70 percent of healthcare expenses each year,” said Mike Reitz, Blue Cross president and chief executive officer. “Quality Blue is our answer to help people become and stay healthy, which keeps their out-of-pocket costs down. We are working with doctors and clinics to give our mutual customers strong primary care that’s focused on them.”

Blue Cross is the only health insurer in Louisiana to offer a patient-centered program like Quality Blue. It has expanded to include 656 primary care doctors treating nearly 180,000 Blue Cross customers, including more than 67,000 who have chronic illnesses. Because the Quality Blue program helps Blue Cross customers get coordinated care, health coaching and more preventive treatment, it is also holding down costs. Doct­ors are paid based on how effectively they work with their patients toward better outcomes.

Data collected from January 2015 to September 2015 show a 25% improvement on diabetes quality measures, a 31% improvement on hypertension quality measures, a 40% improvement on vascular disease quality measures and a greater than 69% improvement on chronic kidney disease measures.