Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

Fast Facts about Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

• Michigan Blues founded in 1939

• Total current employees: 7,000

• Members: 4.3 million

• Claims paid in 2009: $19.8 billion

Did you know?

• Nearly 92 cents from every dollar we collect in premiums goes to pay for health care services. We keep our business running with only 8 cents from each dollar so we can provide low cost medical and dental insurance.

• Of the nearly 30,000 doctors in Michigan, more than 99 percent participate with the Michigan Blues.

• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan uses DenteMax for its dental plans. DenteMax is an independent company with a network of 3,800 access points for dental services in Michigan — and 105,000 nationwide.

• There are 159 hospitals in Michigan. They all participate with the Michigan Blues and accept the Blues member ID card for health care coverage.

• Nearly 2,400 pharmacies in Michigan participate with Blues plan prescription drug coverage programs.

• Nearly $13 billion in health care savings have been derived from discounts the Michigan Blues negotiated with hospitals, pharmacies and physicians.

• The Michigan Blues have the largest medical home program in the country, with 1,800 primary care doctors designated as Patient-Centered Medical Home physicians. Early findings show that PCMH practices have lower rates for adult and pediatric inpatient admissions, radiology usage and ER visits than non-PCMH practices.

• The Michigan Blues effort to increase the use of generic drugs saved about $700 million over the past seven years.

During 2009, the Michigan Blues…

• Paid an average of $2,260,274 per hour in health care benefits. That‘s a total of $19.8 billion.

• Helped avoid $90.3 million in health care costs by helping Blues members meet their health goals through BlueHealthConnection®.

• Supported the Michigan economy by doing more than $311 million in business with Michigan-based suppliers, of which more than $94 million was with minority and women-owned businesses.

• Acted on 2,300 health care fraud tips that led to 149 arrests and 94 convictions — resulting in nearly $15 million saved or recovered.

• Helped put Michigan among the leading states for insuring children by subsidizing the state‘s MIChild program for low-income working families.

• Gave Building Healthy Communities grants to 17 schools, benefiting nearly 6,000 children across the state.

• Supported 47 free or low-cost health clinics that serve the uninsured in Michigan.

• Helped increase electronic prescribing in Michigan to 11.3 million; that’s a 230 percent increase over 2008. Michigan now ranks second in the U.S. for electronic prescribing. E-prescribing reduces costs and errors, and increases patient safety.

• Received support from more than 8,000 physicians in the Blues‘ Physician Group Incentive Program, saving more than $9 million in health care costs, while improving quality of care.

The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association is the trade association for the independent, locally operated Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans. Licensed by the association, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is able to sell products and services under the Blue Cross and Blue Shield names.

(Information updated as of 2011 from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan’s website)