A message from Dr. James Grant
Navigating the future of health care

With change comes opportunity, and the health care industry has experienced a great deal of change over the past two years. It’s important for all of us to address some of the challenges and opportunities that these changes have brought to light.

Here at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, we’ve been in the process of reimagining how we can work more effectively with physicians to make it easier for them to deliver high-quality care. As you may have read in this newsletter previously, we’ve formed relationships with organizations such as Landmark, Dedicated Senior Medical Centers (a subsidiary of ChenMed) and Oak Street Health to help provide care for seniors and chronically ill members. We’re also working with Honest Medical Group and TRIARQ to help health care providers become more successful in value-based care models.

Within Blue Cross, we’ve continued to grow our clinical leadership team to ensure we have physician input at the right time and the right place. As part of that work, we’re in the process of bringing new clinical leaders on board who will focus on key priorities, including:

• Eliminating health care disparities
• Supporting the quality and affordability of health care
• Improving the care delivery experience

By continuing to grow our team, we’re increasing our efforts to have those with a long history of giving great care “at the table” with us to advocate for key issues that affect all of us withing the health care ecosystem.

We understand your world
Blue Cross employs a large team of clinical leaders who have been — and, in many instances, continue to be — practicing physicians. We’ve been in emergency departments, inpatient units, operating rooms and clinics so we know what it’s like to deliver patient care. We can empathize with what health care practitioners are dealing with and what works for them because we live it ourselves.

We also understand the administrative challenges that physicians and their staffs face today. For example, we know that utilization management programs can cause frustration for health care providers. While the purpose of such programs is to ensure that members get appropriate care at the right time in the right place, the reality is that certain claims — albeit very few — may be denied. However, we’re taking steps to transform the utilization management process and make it work better. We’re leveraging technology, analytics and best practices to improve how we execute this work and how together we can make the best clinical decisions possible.

We’ve got plans for the future
As we move into 2023, we’re excited about some new developments that will further our efforts to transform health care. For example:

• Blue Care Network is launching a new precision medicine program, Blue Cross Personalized Medicine℠, that will help physicians tailor the medication regimen of patients to their specific needs. It uses pharmacogenomics, or genetic testing, to personalize medication treatments. You can read more about it in a column by Dr. Scott Betzelos in a previous issue of this newsletter.
• We’re working more collaboratively with our pharmacy colleagues to address the high cost of prescription drugs. To read about how we’re helping to lower costs for our members and improve their medication adherence, see this article, also in this issue.
• We’re increasing our level of community outreach to medical societies, medical schools, customers and the media to better position Blue Cross and its providers as trusted clinical voices for advancing health care. We even posted our first TikTok on A Healthier Michigan recently! Here’s a link to one on how to protect yourself and your loved ones from flu this season. We understand that different generations consume health care information in different ways, and we’re working hard to reach out to everyone.

Our clinical leadership team is committed to deepening our relationships with physicians. We look forward to ongoing collaborations with you and appreciate all you do to work with us and provide exceptional care for your patients. With such an outstanding provider network, the future looks bright!

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network are nonprofit corporations and independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.