Journeying through today’s complex health care payment system can be frustrating, sometimes leading patients to spend their energy dealing with administrative red tape instead of concentrating on what matters most – getting better. Today marks the one year anniversary of a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) program that enables some of its Triangle-area customers to focus more on their health and less about their paperwork.

“Like others before it, the Navigant audit confirmed that we are living up to our contract with the State Health Plan and providing quality service at a fair price,” said Ian Gordon, senior vice president and chief operations officer at BCBSNC. “Blue Cross earns less than a penny of profit on each dollar we receive to administer the State Health Plan. The price the State pays us to administer the plan has declined during the contract term.”

Last night, Dan Pfeiffer, White House Communications Director, posted a comment on the White House blog congratulating Blue Plans across the country for voluntarily extending coverage of adult children.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) will host a press conference to announce Strive to Revive, an initiative that is making available 20 Automated External Defibrillators (AED) to Charlotte area places of worship. The program is designed to specifically impact houses of worship that serve populations largely at risk of health disparity or poor health outcomes.

Thomas W. Ross, president of Davidson College and former executive director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, has been named to the Board of Trustees of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. The BCBSNC board consists of up to 16 community leaders from across North Carolina with diverse backgrounds in health care, business, finance and education.

BCBSNC is continuing to focus on improving health care quality by recognizing select North Carolina hospitals for excellence in spinal surgery, knee replacements, and hip replacements. The program will help BCBSNC members choose facilities that meet high standards for these common procedures.

Last night's passage by the U.S. House of a health care reform bill that will extend access to millions of Americans who need health insurance is historic. It's a step in the right direction. However, there is still a lot of work to do to give Americans a health care system that they can both depend on and afford.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) has been named to the Top 50 Companies for Executive Women by the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE). This is the first time that BCBSNC has been named a NAFE Top Company, which serves as a national benchmark for corporate America.

In 2009 Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) continued to see stability in its customer base and financial performance, despite a difficult economy.

J. Bradley “Brad” Wilson – a North Carolina native with extensive public service, community and business experience – has been named as Chief Executive Officer of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina by the company’s Board of Trustees. The move, effective immediately, follows Wilson’s appointment as company President in November 2009.