A message from Dr. Kipa
Blues work collaboratively with physicians to reform health care

I recently participated in a meeting to discuss approaches for collaborative community activity to promote health care reform. A colleague asked: “How does Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan support health care reform?”

I took that as an opportunity to reflect on the many ways the Blues work with health care providers to transform clinical medicine and set the stage for many important aspects of health care reform. In previous issues of Physician Update, Dr. Thomas Simmer, corporate medical officer, has described the Blues' support of extending coverage to more Michigan residents and improving health status for all of us.

Our new health reform website gives a great summary of our position on reform. This site includes a timeline of changes that will affect health benefits in the near and long term future.

From a clinical perspective, reform can be viewed as an opportunity to improve access to affordable quality care. This happens to align with our mission at BCBSM.

Through Value Partnerships such as the BMC2 cardiovascular consortium, the Physician Group Incentive Program and the Patient-Centered Medical Home Program, we have supported the efforts of hospitals, doctors and others to adopt the paradigm of population management. This approach helps us harness the power of technologies such as registries and e-prescribing to improve population health through prevention and chronic disease management.

More effective prevention and chronic disease management leaves more dollars for implementing evidence-based care, improving care coordination and ensuring that everyone — members, health care providers and payers — does the right things at the right time. 

These seemingly small steps put us well on the road to meeting a big challenge: How to build the health care system of the future. A care system that empowers patients to be active partners with their prepared, proactive practice teams leads to better outcomes for all.

S. George Kipa, M.D., is Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan's deputy corporate medical director.