Blue Cross to Contribute $25 Million to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Inequities
According to a Dec. 2 press release, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (Blue Cross) announced it will contribute $25 million to support local healthcare organizations in their efforts to eliminate racial and ethnic inequities.
The release states that “The contribution is the latest step in the company's plans, announced in September, to partner with the medical community to address disparities.”
Further, “The $25 million in funding will be distributed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) via grants to physician practices and hospitals to assist in their equity improvement efforts and help them prepare for the rollout of new contracts with financial incentives linked to progress in addressing inequities starting in 2023.”
Andrew Dreyfus, Blue Cross' president and CEO was quoted in the article saying that "We know these changes can't be made overnight. Addressing deep-rooted inequities requires significant time, energy and staff resources. We recognize that and want to support our clinical partners in this important work, since we all stand to benefit from a more equitable health care system."
The release concludes that “In keeping with a commitment announced earlier this year to act as a leader in addressing health inequities, Blue Cross reviewed 2019 administrative and health data from more than 1.3 million Massachusetts members and identified racial disparities that, in many cases, represent lower-quality care for Black, Asian, and Hispanic members on 48 industry-standard measures that Blue Cross tracks as part of its ongoing quality assurance operations. The data are now accessible to the public at https://www.bluecrossma.org/myblue/equity-in-health-care/health-equity-report.”
