Blue Cross names Garrett Black as Vice President of Network Management

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Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota

Jun 08, 2010, 11:43 ET

EAGAN, Minn. June 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) today announced Garrett Black as vice president of network management. In this role, Black is responsible for the overall development and implementation of Blue Cross' provider contracting strategy.

Black comes to Blue Cross with significant experience in the Minnesota health care system. Most recently, he served as chief strategy officer for Children's Hospitals & Clinics of Minnesota, overseeing strategic planning, business development and the organization's centers of clinical excellence. Prior to his work at Children's, Black was system director for strategic development at Allina Hospitals & Clinics, where he secured funding for numerous long-range initiatives and negotiated service and employment agreements with primary care and specialty provider practices. Black's experience also includes consulting with a healthcare strategy firm, which advised hospital and provider practices across the nation.

"Garrett has a proven record for developing and implementing effective provider-focused strategies," said Jim Eppel, senior vice president of health management and commercial markets for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. "Under his leadership, Blue Cross will continue innovating with new care models to help us work closely with providers and increase quality outcomes while addressing medical cost issues."

Black earned his bachelor's degree from Marquette University in Milwaukee and holds both an MBA and an MHA from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, with headquarters in the St. Paul suburb of Eagan, was chartered in 1933 as Minnesota's first health plan and continues to carry out its charter mission today as a health company: to promote a wider, more economical and timely availability of health services for the people of Minnesota. Blue Cross is a not-for-profit, taxable organization. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, headquartered in Chicago. Go to bluecrossmn.com to learn more about Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota.

SOURCE Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota