At Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, we are a partner to our members – helping them find high-quality, affordable health care wherever and whenever they need it and providing expertise and resources to help our members achieve optimal health throughout their lives. Throughout 2021, we worked proactively to ensure members continue to have the best experience possible despite the challenges and changes resulting from the pandemic. Delivering on our promise to our members of value, service and quality care takes a multi-pronged approach across the enterprise.
Behavioral Health
The need for behavioral health care services such as therapy and substance abuse treatment grew during 2021, as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact lives and disrupt family routines and careers. During 2021, we served our members by accelerating our ongoing efforts to provide the clinical and community support needed to successfully intervene and treat conditions such as anxiety, depression, addiction and substance abuse.
- Expanded an evidence-based collaborative care model where a behavioral health care manager and consulting pharmacist are added to the primary care team. This model is twice as effective at treating depression.
- Expanded access to Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) for individuals with opioid use disorder, more than doubling the number of MAT providers and adding 20 new counties in Michigan.
- Launched a comprehensive behavioral health care website in conjunction with a communications campaign to combat stigma that often acts as a barrier to our members seeking treatment.
- Deployed funding and programs to address mental health and suicide prevention through community-based partnerships throughout Michigan.
- Expanded access to mobile crisis and crisis stabilization services to our commercial PPO members.
Value-Based Care
Building on nearly two decades of strong partnerships and innovations with physicians, hospitals and other care providers to advance value-based care models, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan continued work in 2021 to ensure everyone has access to high-quality comprehensive care and address the total cost of care for both our members and people in the communities we serve. The most impactful way the Blues are addressing the total cost of care is by incentivizing the delivery of high-quality, clinically appropriate care through value-based payment models. Here at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, our Blueprint for Affordability program is advancing risk-sharing among physicians and hospitals. Since its launch in 2019, Blueprint now supports more than 50% of our health plan membership and has grown from seven founding partners to 22 leading Michigan health systems and physician organizations. To date, 58% of our members in a commercial PPO plan and 53% of our members in a Medicare Advantage PPO plan are attributed to a physician in a Blueprint contract. Together with our partners, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan improved care delivery for members in 2021.
- In 2021, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan transitioned our commercial membership to a new pharmacy benefit manager, a move that will provide members, providers and employers with prescription drug benefit services designed to improve the pharmacy experience, drive better health outcomes and lower costs.
- In 2021, Dedicated Senior Medical Centers, a subsidiary of ChenMed, opened six new locations in the Metro Detroit region to serve Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Medicare Advantage members. Members are engaged through primary health care centers whose practices are focused on meeting the clinical and social needs of moderate to low-income seniors.
- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan acquired a Royal Oak, Mich.-based management services organization that partners with doctors to enhance their operations and business functions, giving physicians more time to focus on patient care.
- We contributed another $5 million to the Michigan Health & Hospital Association’s Keystone Center for Patient Safety and Quality in 2021, which will directly support new programs and hospital-led innovations related to women and children’s health, maternal care parameters and the safety of both patients and health care workers. This investment adds to the $16 million Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has provided to the MHA Keystone Center since 2009.
- A partnership with Civica Rx and 17 other Blue plans will develop lower cost generic drugs for distribution starting in 2022, which will include insulin beginning in 2024.
- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan announced an investment to launch Evio Pharmacy Solutions, a new company that will accelerate our efforts to lower the skyrocketing cost of prescription and specialty drugs affecting our customer groups and members.
- Our medication adherence programs continue to improve member health while lowering medical and drug costs. The Drug Adherence Discount Program saved members $3.8 million in 2021, while the High-Cost Drug Optimization Program saved members an estimated $82.3 million in 2021.
Blue Care Network
Blue Care Network also shares our same commitment to delivering quality and value in the products and services they offer to members. In 2021, BCN:
- Generated $28 million in savings for BCN members on approximately 300 specialty and other expensive drugs through our high-cost drug discount program.
- Produced savings totaling $3.8 million for BCN and Blue Cross members with chronic conditions enrolled in our Drug Adherence Discount Program.
- Integrated behavioral health services into primary care settings to help primary care providers better manage the overall health of patients.
- Piloted a crisis stabilization program, in partnership with Hegira Health’s COPE and Common Ground Resource and Crisis Center, to offer immediate mental health care for children, adults and families in crisis.
- Implemented the Musculoskeletal Surgical Quality & Safety Management Program as part of the Spine and Joint Care Program to reduce unnecessary surgeries and improve patient outcomes.
- Created options for members to receive lower cost virtual care.
- Expanded virtual health and well-being support to more than 33,000 participants, in over 22 countries, through our Virtual Well-Being webinars.
- Added a new digital behavioral health and resiliency program, myStrength by Livongo®, to support members in managing life’s daily stressors and improve their mental health.
- Go to the 2021 Annual Report.
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