Collaborative Care Program grows to 244 designated practices statewide, expanding access to integrated primary and behavioral health care services

September 18, 2023

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has designated 239 primary care and 5 obstetrics/gynecology practices as Collaborative Care practices, an increase from the 213 designated practices in 2022. The Collaborative Care model makes it easier for people to get their behavioral health needs addressed, by coordinating behavioral health care within the primary care or ob/gyn […]

Social Risk Adjustment initiative provides funds to physician organizations to help them address social factors that impact patients’ health

August 3, 2023

Mary has missed her last four doctor appointments because she lacked transportation to get there. John tries to make healthy meals, but he doesn’t live near any stores that sell fresh produce. Nancy isn’t sure she’s taking her medications properly, because she has a low reading level and doesn’t understand the directions. For each of […]

For best results after spine surgery, get moving as soon as possible.

June 8, 2023

A Blue Cross initiative is helping people get back on their feet after spine surgery and back to normal, daily activities. The idea of getting up and moving around less than eight hours after a back or neck surgery might seem unpleasant, even risky to many patients. Yet, a recent study published in Neurosurgery shows […]

Michigan outperforms national trends in reducing opioid prescribing after surgery

April 28, 2023

Opioid addiction is the top complication after surgery for patients who have never taken them before. Persistent opioid use happens when patients are prescribed opioids to help with post-surgical pain, but they continue to use the opioids well after post-surgical pain period. The absence of established opioid prescribing guidelines for surgeons to follow contributed to […]

Collaborative Quality Initiatives Continue to Influence National Care Protocols

April 20, 2023

Since Blue Cross launched the Collaborative Quality Initiative model more than 20 years ago, our provider partners have routinely developed many best practices that improve clinical processes, safety and quality. The CQI structure enables rich data collection from a wide variety of clinical sites and fosters deep cooperation across the initiative. As a result, findings […]

Experts Gather at Inaugural Michigan Obesity Summit to Address the Obesity Public Health Crisis

October 11, 2022

The United States has an obesity problem, and it’s costing more than a trillion dollars in direct and indirect medical costs. In Michigan, which has one of the highest obesity rates in the nation, 36% of adults and 17% of children are obese. If the trend continues, about half of the population will be obese […]

Improving Health Care Through Collaboration in Michigan and Beyond

August 18, 2022

If you owned a business, it would be unlikely that you would regularly meet with your competitors to talk about best practices in order to better serve your customers.   Yet Michigan health care providers from competing systems do this regularly to improve health care delivery, on measures from cost to quality. And you, the customer, benefit greatly.    One way providers work together is through statewide […]

CDC highlights Michigan CQI response to COVID-19 antibiotic overuse

February 14, 2022

More than half of Michigan COVID-19 patients received unnecessary antibiotics in the early days of the pandemic, but that number decreased significantly due to a joint effort by the Michigan Collaborative Quality Initiatives (CQIs).  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has taken notice and featured the CQI work in a national stewardship report, […]

Two projects within the cardiovascular collaborative improve patient safety by reducing opioids and reducing radiation exposure

January 27, 2022

Participants in the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Cardiovascular Consortium (BMC2) have improved patient safety through two important projects. First, physicians have reduced the number of opioid pills prescribed to patients following certain vascular surgeries. Second, they reduced radiation exposure during angioplasty procedures. In the first project, participating physicians saw the need and the […]

The Blue Cross cardiovascular consortium celebrates 25 years of improving patient outcomes

December 9, 2021

Twenty-five years ago, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan partnered with five hospitals to launch the percutaneous coronary intervention registry, a collaborative effort to improve quality, cost and outcomes of angioplasty procedures. Since then, the initiative has grown into a statewide consortium of nearly 50 hospitals and 600 physicians, now called BMC2 (Blue Cross Blue […]