Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina and the North Carolina Museum of Art unveiled a new greenway segment called the Blue Loop on Saturday morning April 13, 2013 in Raleigh, N.C. The new loop extends a network of trails from the N.C Museum of Art campus to the Capital Greenway System.

Kat Gesh-Wilson always saw herself working in the health care field. She’s seen the evolving industry from both sides of the table, having worked both for companies providing insurance coverage and for health care providers.

The North Carolina Museum of Art is preparing to celebrate the opening of a large new portion of the museum grounds. Saturday April 13th the NCMA officially dedicates the Blue Loop multi-modal recreational trail from 10:30 am until 1 pm.

Last December, UNC announced plans to create a physician assistant (PA) master’s degree program that will build on the training and experience of Army Special Forces medical sergeants. The two-year program, made possible by a $1.2 million gift from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, will include classroom and clinical courses in primary care.

The Ethisphere Institute, an international think tank, has just announced its seventh annual list of the World’s Most Ethical Companies. The selection, open to every company in every industry around the globe, gives its winners an opportunity to trumpet their do-gooding ways. It is not a ranking, so they are all equally winners.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina has just started testing out its bundled payment model for knee replacement surgeries, and if performs well, the model could be pushed out to include hip replacements.

The CED Life Science Conference 2013 will be a great opportunity for those of us in health care and in the life sciences to connect. I am privileged to play a role in this year’s conference as a co-chair with David P. King of LabCorp and Ed Mathers of NEA. We are each looking forward to many conversations about the challenges and opportunities we face as an industry. There are no shortages of either.

The Get Fit Challenge, sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC), is a 60-day program that provides 85 state businesses with customized fitness plans to encourage their workers to get fit, create healthy habits and help lower company health care costs.

“It’s a simple equation: We need more physician assistants in North Carolina, and our veterans want the job,” Brad Wilson, president and CEO of BCBSNC, said in a statement. “When these medics return home, they’ll have the opportunity to take their experience in the field and use it to advance their careers and continue to care for patients.”

To build on the training of Special Forces medical sergeants like Costa, the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and the state’s largest insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, announced Monday a plan to create a two-year master’s degree program. The program would prepare veteran medical sergeants to be physician assistants.