The goal is to work closely with Illinois hospitals that serve large numbers of Blue Cross members in communities with people most at risk of contracting COVID-19 and, ultimately, reduce racial and ethnic disparities in care.
To improve medical care for minorities and vulnerable populations, the value-based, three-year pilot program will pay doctors more for achieving certain metrics, such as meeting maternal health care requirements and equitably implementing telehealth, Khaleq said.
“Pre-COVID we were looking at (developing) a broader quality program” with an equity component, Khaleq said. “Post-COVID we pivoted the program to be 100 percent focused on equity. We all intrinsically know that systemic racism and discrimination play out in health care outcomes for communities of color. . . .We really felt that in this space, Blue Cross can put some dollars behind provider organizations that are committed to working with us to address these issues.”
Blue Cross is working with participating hospitals and health systems—at least 10 have been invited to join the program so far—to implement the incentive program, which collectively will provide about $100 million in funding.
University of Illinois Hospital on Chicago's Near West Side and Springfield-based Memorial Health System are the first to join, the insurer said today.
“We cannot achieve our mission without acknowledging and addressing the barriers to care created by systemic racism and other forms of discrimination inherent in our culture and communities,” Memorial Health System CEO Ed Curtis said in a statement from the insurer. “We are pleased that Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois also has committed to supporting providers in our work to eliminate these disparities.”
The other program Blue Cross is piloting, the Institute for Physician Diversity, aims to increase racial and ethnic diversity among doctors.
The institute will work with hospitals and health systems to accelerate the recruitment of medical students, resident physicians and clinical faculty who are underrepresented in medicine.
“Our physician workforce does not represent the racial and ethnic diversity of our state and this issue is not unique to Illinois,” Dr. Derek Robinson, chief medical officer for Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois, said in the statement. “We have an obligation as a health insurer to help accelerate the efforts of our medical education community to address this structural disparity.”
