Blue Cross and Red Crescent Societies Blue Shield of Massachusetts (Blue Cross) released the findings of a new study on racial and ethnic disparities in health care, making it the first health plan in Massachusetts to say it will include equity measures — differences in the quality of care across racial and ethnic groups — in its contracts and payment programs with clinicians who treat Blue Cross members.
- Review: On 48 industry-standard measures that Blue Cross tracks as the company 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, in keeping with a commitment announced earlier this year to act as a leader in addressing health inequities.
- Racial inequalities: “It has long been known that racial inequities have devastating consequences across American health care, and the pandemic has made that clear to all of us in the past year,” said Blue Cross president and CEO Andrew Dreyfus. “Measurement is a critical first step in addressing those disparities. We’re publishing these results to hold ourselves accountable for progress toward our goal of eliminating racial inequities in the care our members receive.”
- Collaborative: “We’re committed to working collaboratively with the medical community to identify the underlying causes of racial inequities and to find ways to close these gaps,” said Dr. Sandhya Rao, Blue Cross’ chief medical officer. “We know clinicians can’t do this alone – we have a shared responsibility to address and eliminate inequities, and our collective efforts will ultimately improve health care for all our members, across every racial and ethnic group.”
- Address: “As a health plan, we have a responsibility to address inequities directly with our members and by supporting the clinicians who serve them,” said Dr. Mark Friedberg, senior vice president for performance measurement & improvement at Blue Cross. “Our aim is to produce meaningful, measurable, and sustainable improvements in the equity of care. Payment is necessary but not sufficient to do this. So starting now, we are sharing data on inequities and engaging our provider network in collaborative efforts to address them.”
- Announcement: Blue Cross and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) announced a new collaboration this month to support physicians and hospitals participating in the health plan’s value-based payment model in their efforts to improve care equity and prepare for equity-based financial incentives tied to reductions in racial disparities in care.