Article highlights:
- Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) announced a national health equity strategy that focuses on measuring racial health disparities, forming community and clinical partnerships, scaling effective programs, and influencing local and federal policy decisions. The strategy is centered around improving racial health disparities in maternal health, behavioral health, diabetes, and cardiovascular conditions.
- To measure its progress in tackling maternal health disparities, the payer will use the CDC Severe Maternal Morbidity metric and report results annually. BCBSA's National Health Equity Strategy will focus heavily on community partnerships. For instance, in recent months BCBS companies have fostered relationships with local leaders to provide vulnerable communities with COVID-19 vaccine access.
- Additionally, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (Blue Cross) has convened its own advisory council of leading local and national experts in health inequities to help guide and shape the company's health equity strategy from a variety of stakeholder perspectives. As part of its health equity strategy, the payer will create metrics and programs that address racial health disparities in care access and quality of care.
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