Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, Baylor Scott & White Health Announce New Agreement

Four-year contract improves alignment between both organizations by expanding consumer choice, improving quality of care and reducing costs across Central and North Texas.

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Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas

Nov 17, 2016, 10:00 ET

DALLAS and RICHARDSON, Texas, Nov. 17, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX) and Baylor Scott & White Health announce a new 4-year agreement, ensuring BCBSTX members continued access to the Baylor Scott & White health care system.

BCBSTX members in the BlueChoice^® PPO, Blue Essentials^® HMO and Blue Premier^® HMO health plans will continue to enjoy access to Baylor Scott & White Health's full network of over 900 access points throughout Central and North Texas.

Baylor Scott & White Health will also continue to have limited participation in BCBSTX's Blue Advantage^® HMO plan, welcoming the plan at five of its hospitals.

"This new agreement ensures that BCBSTX members in our region continue to have access to the quality, patient-centered healthcare offered by Baylor Scott & White Health," said Gary Brock, Executive Vice President of Baylor Scott & White Health. "Our aim is always to provide patients with the right care, at the right time, in the right place — and by the right caregiver."

Two additional components of the agreement include the incorporation of Baylor Scott & White Health's Central Texas network as a provider of coordinated care services to children with special healthcare needs and their families under Texas' STAR Kids^®Health Plan, offered by BCBSTX, and a future commitment by the insurer for stronger integration with Baylor Scott & White's Accountable Care Organization (ACO), Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance, starting in 2017.

"This agreement confirms and strengthens the longstanding relationship between these two organizations, and stresses our commitment to provide our members access to quality, cost-effective healthcare," said Jack Towsley, Divisional Senior Vice President of Health Care Delivery at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas. "As stewards of our members' health care coverage dollars, this is a responsibility we take very seriously."

This milestone adds to the long, shared history of two of North Texas' leading health care organizations. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas came into existence in 1929, when then Dallas schools superintendent, Justin Ford Kimball, became the Baylor University official who devised a plan that would allow teachers to contribute fifty cents a month to a fund that would guarantee them up to twenty-one days of hospital care at Baylor Hospital.¹

The world of health care coverage has undergone transformational changes since the days of that Baylor Plan, but the close relationship between these two Dallas institutions continues to endure.

¹Texas State Historical Association

About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX) – the only statewide, customer-owned health insurer in Texas – is the largest provider of health benefits in the state, working with nearly 80,000 physicians and healthcare practitioners, and 500 hospitals to serve more than 5 million members in all 254 counties. BCBSTX is a Division of Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) (which operates Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Texas, Illinois, Montana, Oklahoma and New Mexico), the country's largest customer-owned health insurer, and fourth largest health insurer overall. Health Care Service Corporation is a Mutual Legal Reserve Company and an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

BCBSTX.com | Twitter.com/BCBSTX | Facebook.com/BlueCrossBlueShieldOfTexas | YouTube.com/BCBSTX

About Baylor Scott & White Health
Formed from the 2013 merger between Baylor Health Care System and Scott & White Healthcare, the system referred to as Baylor Scott & White Health is the largest not-for-profit health care system in the state of Texas. With total assets of $9 billion* and serving a population larger than the state of Georgia, Baylor Scott & White Health has the vision and resources to provide its patients continued quality care while creating a model system for a dramatically changing health care environment. The system now includes 47 hospitals, more than 900 access points, 6,000 active physicians, and 40,000 employees, plus the Scott & White Health Plan, Baylor Scott & White Research Institute and Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance — a network of clinical providers and facilities focused on improving quality, managing the health of patient populations, and reducing the overall cost of care. For more information visit: BaylorScottandWhite.com

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SOURCE Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas