Blue Shield of California Launches Corporate Social Responsibility Web Site

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Apr 21, 2010, 10:00 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, April 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Just in time for Earth Day, Blue Shield of California is launching a new Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Web site. The site includes information on Blue Shield's corporate governance, commitment to greening company processes, community involvement, and advocating for universal health care to improve access to quality care. The new Web site is viewable at: www.blueshieldca.com/socialresponsibility.

"As a not-for-profit, mission-driven health plan, we care about the communities we serve and believe that a healthy California starts with socially responsible business practices," said Bruce Bodaken, chairman and CEO of Blue Shield of California. "That's why we've made corporate citizenship a priority and have taken steps to align our business processes with our community, environmental and public policy efforts."

Over the past few years, Blue Shield has taken major steps to reduce its carbon footprint and its environmental impact by implementing energy efficiency measures, utilizing green building practices, increasing recycling, and supporting alternative and shared commutes.

The new Web site highlights some of the greening measures Blue Shield has taken in its offices, such as installing energy-efficient lighting, implementing videoconferencing capabilities to reduce business travel, reducing employee paper use, offering bike-to-work programs and commuter public transportation benefits, replacing bottled water and disposable cups with coffee mugs and water glasses to reduce waste, and moving to compostable dining ware.

Blue Shield also follows green-building best practices. The Lodi office that opened in 2008 is built to LEED green building standards, and the San Francisco headquarters is a LEED- and Energy Star-certified building.

On Earth Day, April 22, Blue Shield is taking its environmental commitment one step further by encouraging its employees to take a "Green Employee Pledge" to do their part to take care of the environment. The pledge will encourage employees to reduce their personal carbon footprint by increasing recycling, reducing paper use at work, and replacing one car trip a week with walking, biking or public transportation.

"Social responsibility extends to every aspect of our work and is a big part of our corporate culture," said Marianne Jackson, senior vice president of Human Resources. "Encouraging our employees to be socially responsible and to do the right thing reflects our values, and is an important part of how we do business."

In addition to being environmentally-friendly, Blue Shield also encourages employees to give back to their communities. The new CSR Web site includes information on Blue Shield's community efforts, such as our employee volunteerism and corporate giving programs. This year, Blue Shield and its employees contributed more than $140,000 to aid the earthquake recovery effort in Haiti. Every year, Blue Shield employees volunteer at more than 100 community events and raise more than $500,000 for local charities through employee donations and Blue Shield's matching fund program. Blue Shield has contributed more than $125 million during the past 4 years to the Blue Shield of California Foundation to make health care accessible and combat domestic violence. The Blue Shield of California Foundation was recently named one of BusinessWeek's top 20 most generous corporate foundations in the country.

About Blue Shield

Blue Shield of California, an independent member of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, is a not-for-profit health plan with 3.4 million members, 4,800 employees, and one of the largest provider networks; it offers a wide range of commercial and government products throughout the state. Blue Shield of California has contributed more than $125 million over the past four years to the Blue Shield of California Foundation -- which this year was named one of BusinessWeek's top 20 most generous corporate foundations. Contact your local agent or broker for more information about Blue Shield products and services, or visit the Blue Shield web site at www.blueshieldca.com.