Hazelden Betty Ford in Bellevue, WA Designated Blue Distinction® Center for Substance Use Treatment and Recovery

BELLEVUE, Wash., June 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- To help patients who have substance use disorders find quality on-site and virtual treatment services, Premera Blue Cross has recognized the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation site in Bellevue, Wash., as a Blue Distinction® Center for Substance Use Treatment and Recovery. Hazelden Betty Ford in Bellevue provides outpatient services on-site and to people throughout the state of Washington via telehealth. It is among the initial centers to receive the new designation under the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program.

Blue Distinction Centers are nationally designated facilities that show a commitment to delivering improved patient safety and better health outcomes, based on objective measures that were developed with input from the community and leading accreditation and quality organizations.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 130 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose, which highlights the seriousness of the opioid epidemic and how critical it is for patients to receive comprehensive, meaningful care. The Blue Distinction Center for Substance Use Treatment and Recovery program requires designated facilities to deliver coordinated multidisciplinary care to patients and provide timely access to quality medical and psychosocial care in all phases of treatment. Designated facilities must also offer medication-assisted treatment – an approach to treating opioid addiction that includes both medications and evidence-based psychosocial therapies.

"We are extremely excited and grateful that Blue Cross Blue Shield Association recognizes the importance of adding substance use disorder as the 11^th disease category in its Blue Distinction Specialty Care program. This is huge in so many ways—a sign that addiction treatment has come of age within mainstream health care," said Bob Poznanovich, vice president of business development at Hazelden Betty Ford.

"Premera's leadership in vetting addiction treatment providers for quality, evidence-based care and promoting to consumers those with the best demonstrated outcomes will smash historical stigmas, incentivize quality, and protect consumers by providing them with in-network options they can trust," Poznanovich added. "No one will benefit more from the centers-of-excellence strategy that is growing within health care than the millions of Americans who are facing addiction-related challenges at home or in the workplace. We are proud and thankful to be recognized by Premera and to be part of mainstreaming addiction care so that more individuals and families are able to get the help they need."

"Asking for help is hard. And knowing where to go to get the right care, especially for such a sensitive condition, is even harder," said Tonya Owens, Provider Initiatives consultant for Premera. "That's why we're proud to be able to help our customers find high-quality providers across the nation for their substance use disorder. Designated Substance Use Treatment and Recovery providers are committed to providing high-quality, effective treatment. We believe that by offering this designation, our members will save money and see better health outcomes."

Since 2006, the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program has helped patients find quality specialty care in the areas of bariatric surgery, cancer care, cardiac care, cellular immunotherapy, fertility care, gene therapy, knee and hip replacements, maternity care, spine surgery, substance use treatment and recovery, and transplants, while encouraging health care professionals to improve the care they deliver. Research for many programs shows that, compared to other providers, those designated as Blue Distinction Centers demonstrate better quality and improved outcomes for patients.

For more information about the program and for a complete listing of the designated facilities, visit www.bcbs.com/bluedistinction.

About the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is a force of healing and hope for individuals, families and communities affected by addiction to alcohol and other drugs. As the nation's leading nonprofit provider of comprehensive inpatient and outpatient treatment for adults and youth, the Foundation has 17 locations nationwide and collaborates with an expansive network throughout health care. With a legacy that began in 1949 and includes the 1982 founding of the Betty Ford Center, the Foundation today also encompasses a graduate school of addiction studies, a publishing division, an addiction research center, recovery advocacy and thought leadership, professional and medical education programs, school-based prevention resources and a specialized program for children who grow up in families with addiction. Learn more at www.HazeldenBettyFord.org and on Twitter @hazldnbettyford.

About Premera Blue Cross

As the largest health plan in the Pacific Northwest, Premera serves more than 2 million people—from individuals and families to employees of Fortune 100 companies. We provide comprehensive, tailored services to customers in Washington and Alaska that include innovative programs focused on wellness and prevention, disease management, and patient safety. We deliver these programs through health, life, vision, dental, stop-loss, disability, workforce wellness, and other related products and services. Our networks include thousands of doctors, healthcare providers, and hospitals. Premera is headquartered in Mountlake Terrace, WA, with more than 3,250 employees working in operations in Seattle and Spokane, WA and Anchorage, AK. The company and its predecessors have operated in Washington since 1933 and in Alaska since 1952. Premera Blue Cross is a not-for-profit independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.

About Blue Cross Blue Shield Association

The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association is a national federation of 36 independent, community-based and locally operated Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies that collectively provide health care coverage for one in three Americans. BCBSA provides health care insights through Blue Cross Blue Shield, The Health of America Report® series and the national BCBS Health Index^SM. For more information on BCBSA and its member companies, please visit BCBS.com. We also encourage you to connect with us on Facebook, check out our videos on YouTube and follow us on Twitter.

About Blue Distinction Centers

Blue Distinction Centers (BDC) met overall quality measures, developed with input from the medical community. A Local Blue Plan may require additional criteria for providers located in its own service area; for details, contact your Local Blue Plan. Blue Distinction Centers+ (BDC+) also met cost measures that address consumers' need for affordable healthcare. Each provider's cost of care is evaluated using data from its Local Blue Plan. Providers in CA, ID, NY, PA, and WA may lie in two Local Blue Plans' areas, resulting in two evaluations for cost of care; and their own Local Blue Plans decide whether one or both cost of care evaluation(s) must meet BDC+ national criteria. National criteria for BDC and BDC+ are displayed on www.bcbs.com. Individual outcomes may vary. For details on a provider's in-network status or your own policy's coverage, contact your Local Blue Plan and ask your provider before making an appointment. Neither Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association nor any Blue Plans are responsible for non-covered charges or other losses or damages resulting from Blue Distinction or other provider finder information or care received from Blue Distinction or other providers.

SOURCE Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Related Links

https://www.hazeldenbettyford.org/