Ceo perspective

Dear friends:

If you’re reading this, you care about making health care work for everyone. I do too.

This report describes what we did in the past year to get closer to that goal. We have a long road ahead. But as Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts’ new CEO, I’m proud to lead a company that, for 86 years, has been passionate about supporting our members, customers, clinicians, and community partners.

Amid economic uncertainty and multiple public health challenges, we acted with innovation and empathy in 2022. Here are some of our highlights:

We made it easier for our members to connect with primary care clinicians, get help for chronic conditions such as diabetes and kidney disease, and better manage their prescriptions.
We addressed the urgent need for high-quality mental health services with an expanded network of clinicians — up 46% from five years ago — and enhanced online resources.
We made national news with our groundbreaking work to address racial and ethnic inequities in health care, in partnership with clinicians in our network.
We supported our employees and attracted new talent with a flexible, inclusive and creative work environment that promotes wellness and a sense of belonging.

In other words, our company continued to build upon the remarkable success achieved during more than a dozen years with Andrew Dreyfus as president and CEO. Under his guidance, Blue Cross and our foundation championed landmark reforms in health care, created new payment models aimed at improving the quality of care, and acted as a leader in promoting mental health care and health equity.

So, what will we do next?

Our first priority is to ensure health care is affordable for our members and employer customers. At the same time, we want our members to have the best possible experience – not only with us, but when they see a physician, get a lab test, pick up a prescription, or have to stay in a hospital. That means easy access to information and services. It means guidance to help members get the health care they need, in the right place, at the right time and at the right price, and it means we will continue to address disparities in care.

This work will require more innovation, more collaboration, more agility, and the ability to navigate a complex and tumultuous landscape. We are fortunate to have the resources necessary to do just that: a leadership team committed to the challenge, talented and empathetic employees, and a strategy designed to meet the needs of our members, employer customers and community and clinical partners. As we begin our next chapter at Blue Cross, our values and our commitment to you remain constant.

Thank you for joining us.