Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana and Tulane University have created the Partnership for Healthcare Innovation, an unprecedented level of cooperation between the insurer and a university. The venture will find solutions for healthcare issues in Louisiana, where a disproportionate share of the population suffers from diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses.
“Researchers from across Tulane are exploring different facets of these healthcare challenges,” said Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Robin Forman. “This new partnership will combine their ideas, questions and analysis with the deep expertise and experience of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana to yield new insights and innovative solutions in healthcare delivery.”
Blue Cross President & CEO Dr. I. Steven Udvarhelyi said, “This collaboration is a tremendous opportunity. We are working with Tulane to share data, develop research projects and deliver findings to consumers, business owners, healthcare professionals and policymakers across our state—all with the goals of driving innovation and improving how our healthcare system works.”
The two organizations recently held an inaugural workshop at Tulane where nearly 100 people gathered to exchange information about the resources each can offer the partnership. John Maginnis, vice president of Corporate Communications at Blue Cross, told the crowd it was important to understand why they were there.
“There is a health crisis here in Louisiana,” Maginnis said, noting that Louisiana has the highest adult obesity rate in the nation at 36.2 percent, as well as ranking No. 4 in obesity for children ages 10 to 17, No. 5 for adult diabetes, No. 4 for hypertension and fifth worst for heart disease.
Maginnis also said Louisiana has six of the 10 highest-spending Medicare markets in America. “For these compelling reasons, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana and Tulane University are coming together with a mission of transforming healthcare in this state—and beyond,” he said.
The original steering committee for the partnership, made up of representatives from both Blue Cross and Tulane, brainstormed an extensive list of potential projects for the group to consider. As examples, the School of Science and Engineering might examine issues related to telemedicine, while Public Health and Tropical Medicine could develop simulations and mapping tools for anticipating health threats. Several collaborations, formal and informal, have already taken place, and a research project on medication adherence—headed by a Tulane professor of Medicine and Epidemiology and a Blue Cross clinical pharmacist—is ongoing.
Attendees at the Oct. 19 event heard updates on those projects and were given handouts for submitting project ideas they would like to see developed. The original steering committee that saw the partnership through its inception has divided itself into two committees—one devoted to research, data and analytics and the other to education and community outreach—that will evaluate submissions, choose projects to help develop and work with the researchers as needed.