At Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, we're committed to ensuring our members have access to high-quality, affordable, and equitable health care with an unparalleled consumer experience.
Standing up for effective, affordable care
We’re proud to be a national leader in developing innovative strategies that help ease the burden of rising health care costs for families, businesses, and governments, and improve the quality of care.
For example, our Alternative Quality Contract was developed in collaboration with clinicians more than a decade ago to reward doctors and hospitals for delivering high-quality, high-value patient care that keeps our members healthy. In 2019, our model’s long-term, sustainable success was documented in a landmark New England Journal of Medicine study by Harvard Medical School researchers. Today, more than 80% of Massachusetts doctors and hospitals take part in the model, which has served as a blueprint across the country for plans serving millions of Americans.
We continue to expand the scope of our payment models to include large, independent medical practices; small medical practices; and hospital systems.
We’re also committed to offering new health insurance plans that emphasize greater value for members and employers, providing robust wellness programs that can help improve employee health and constrain costs, and negotiating responsible contracts with clinicians and hospitals.
Recognition for quality
The National Committee for Quality Assurance, which evaluates the quality of health plans, has consistently put us in their highest accreditation category. Our Medicare plans are highly rated too, with our Medicare Advantage PPO and HMO plans and Blue MedicareRx Prescription Drug Plan all receiving an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars for 2021 from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Our nearly 3 million members value their experience with us. For five years, J.D. Power has ranked us No. 1 in member satisfaction among all commercial health plans in Massachusetts.
A commitment to equity
For more than 80 years, we have put our members at the center of health care. Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is essential to that work.
We believe good health shouldn’t depend on your race, ethnicity, or the neighborhood in which you live.
As we emerge from a once-in-a-century pandemic, which has exposed deep racial inequities in care, we’re launching a new plan to address inequities in the care our members receive, founded on a first-in-market approach to collecting race and ethnicity data.
With this data, and in partnership with the clinicians in our network, we’re creating metrics and programs to address racial inequities in health care access and quality, including the service we provide directly to our members.
We also continue to support our employer partners in their diversity, equity and inclusion work, providing analysis of health trends in their employee population, and sharing recommendations to accelerate health equity. Our work is guided by an advisory council of leading local and national experts with a broad range of perspectives on health inequities.
Health coverage that’s simple, empathetic and accessible
We’re particularly proud to offer our members:
- A best-in-class website, available in six languages. By accessing our digital tools, our members can stay informed about their coverage, check the status of claims, get their current deductible information and account balances, and opt in for important reminders about their health care.
- Team Blue, including our registered nurses, mental health specialists, wellness coaches, member service representatives and more, helps members understand, coordinate, and access care.
- One of the largest provider networks in the nation, with more than 67,000 clinicians.