Nov. 2, 2017
BATON ROUGE, La. – Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, along with the World Hypertension League, today recognized 264 Louisiana primary care physicians who have 70 percent or more of their patients at goal for health quality measures to treat high blood pressure.
These physicians are part of Quality Blue Primary Care, Blue Cross’ program for patient-focused care that leads to better health results for customers.
This record-breaking result, with the highest success rate for any measure since Quality Blue began four years ago, was just one announced at the annual Quality Blue Primary Care Statewide Collaborative, which took place today at the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center.
During this event, Blue Cross leadership unveiled results from the past program year that show how Quality Blue is driving continued improvement for customers who have chronic diseases that are common in Louisiana.
“For too long, the healthcare system focused on treating patients only when they were sick, but today, more healthcare providers are assessing and addressing patients’ needs in a more holistic manner and taking steps to keep them well,” said Vindell Washington, Blue Cross chief medical officer. “Our Quality Blue providers have embraced this challenge and are taking advantage of the information we share with them to spur their patients to action and help them reach their best health. And, the results show it’s working.”
Blue Cross is the only health insurer in Louisiana to offer a patient-centered program like Quality Blue. The program began in 2013 and has grown to include more than 700 primary care physicians across the state, who are treating 281,974 Blue Cross customers – including more than 113,000 who have chronic conditions.
In this program, Blue Cross securely shares information based on its claims data with enrolled providers, so they can better understand their patients’ health histories and address their needs. For example, this helps healthcare providers follow up with patients to recommend screenings, shots or tests they should have.
“Quality Blue exemplifies how healthcare providers and payers can take advantage of the great advances in technology to more effectively exchange data and apply analytics in ways that empower patients, allow for better decision-making and improve outcomes,” said Somesh Nigam, Blue Cross senior vice president and chief analytics and data officer. “Through our strong provider partnerships, we’re fostering an information flow that fulfills our core mission to improve the health and lives of Louisianians.”
The Quality Blue program ties providers’ payment to performance, with financial incentives based on how well they help their Blue Cross patients obtain coordinated care, health coaching and more preventive treatment while working with them toward better outcomes.
Blue Cross measures patient improvement on the four chronic conditions targeted in Quality Blue – diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and kidney disease – with quality measures that show how well the physicians are getting their patients to meet health goals.
For example, physicians are measured on how many of their patients have their blood sugar and blood pressure controlled, if heart disease patients are on statins and taking them as directed, or on getting patients to quit smoking.
In addition to the Top Performers for high blood pressure, Blue Cross recognized the highest-scoring physicians for meeting the program’s health goals tied to diabetes, vascular disease and chronic kidney disease.
During the collaborative’s awards ceremony, Blue Cross named the four clinics with the highest scores on Quality Blue’s clinical quality measures for the four targeted chronic conditions:
The Family Doctors – Shreveport won the 2017 Highest Overall Performance award, achieving the highest average score throughout the program year on the four healthcare quality measures and three efficiency measures that track how well a practice is reducing the use of unnecessary services.
For more information on the Quality Blue Primary Care program, visit www.bcbsla.com/QBPC. Learn more about the ways Blue Cross is using Quality Blue to help our customers get better health results and combat rising healthcare costs at www.StraightTalkLA.com.
NOTE FOR BROADCAST MEDIA: A video news release of this event and b-roll footage are available through Hometown Productions.
About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana
Founded in New Orleans in 1934, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana is a private, fully taxed mutual company, owned by policyholders—not shareholders. It is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and is governed by a Louisiana Board of Directors.
The company and its subsidiaries provide group and individual health insurance plans, life and disability insurance, group voluntary products and administrative services to Louisiana residents. With headquarters in Baton Rouge and eight district offices around the state, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana is committed to improving the lives of its customers by providing them with health guidance and affordable access to quality care.
Learn more on the company’s website at www.bcbsla.com or visit its social media hub to connect via Facebook, Twitter and more.
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