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The Blue Distinction program
Blue Distinction Specialty Care is a national designation program recognizing providers that demonstrate expertise in delivering quality and affordable health care to meet consumers’ specialty care needs — safely, effectively and cost-efficiently.
To earn a Blue Distinction designation, providers and/or facilities must meet strict, pre-determined quality standards developed by medical experts and providers.
The program includes two levels of designation:
Blue Distinction Center (BDC) – quality care, treatment expertise, and better overall patient results
Blue Distinction Centers+ (BDC+) – more affordable care in addition to quality care, treatment expertise, and better overall patient results
Understanding the evaluation process
The selection process balances quality, cost, and access considerations to offer consumers meaningful differentiation in quality and value for specialty care providers that are designated as BDC and BDC+.
Quality
A nationally consistent approach to evaluating quality and safety that incorporates quality measures with meaningful impact, including delivery system features and specific quality outcomes to which all can aspire.
Cost
A nationally consistent and objective approach for selecting a BDC+ is used to address market and consumer demand for cost savings and affordable healthcare.
Access
Blue members’ access to Blue Distinction Centers is considered, to achieve the Program’s overall goal of providing differentiated performance on quality and, for the BDC+ designation, cost of care.
The value of a designation
The highly respected Blue Distinction designation affirms that your practice demonstrates expertise in delivering both higher quality and more affordable specialty care. The designation helps consumers and referring physicians to easily locate Blue Distinction providers using the Blue Distinction Center Finder.
Enhanced awareness and preference
A Blue Distinction designation provides consumers and their referring physicians with the information they need to select a provider recognized for delivering quality, cost-effective specialty care. According to research conducted on consumer healthcare decision-making, consumers are more likely to select a higher-quality, lower-cost provider than a high-cost provider when both quality and cost information are shown in tandem.
Recognition among employers
Employers adopt many strategies to help improve the quality of health care for their employees, while also managing cost. Some of these strategies may include offering richer benefits to employees who use designated Blue Distinction providers and adopting narrow networks that feature these higher-quality, lower-cost providers.
Interested in joining the program?
If you would like to be designated as a Blue Distinction Center or Blue Distinction Center+, call our Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina provider support team at 800-214-4844 to get started.
For other questions regarding the Blue Distinction program, email the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association at BDC.Administrator@bcbsa.com.
Disclosures:
Blue Distinction® Centers met overall quality measures for patient safety and outcomes, developed with input from the medical community. Blue Distinction® Centers+ also met cost measures that address consumers' need for affordable healthcare. Individual outcomes may vary. National criteria are displayed on www.bcbs.com. A Local Blue Plan may require additional criteria for facilities located in its own service area. To find out which services and providers (including hospital based physicians) are covered under your policy, or to learn about Local Blue Plan Criteria, contact your Local Blue Plan; and contact your provider before making an appointment to verify its current Network and Blue Distinction Centers status. Each hospital's Cost Index is calculated separately, based on data from its Local Blue Plan. Hospitals in portions of CA, ID, NY, PA, and WA may lie in areas served by two Local Blue Plans, resulting in two Cost Index figures; and their own Local Blue Plans decide whether all hospitals in these areas must meet Blue Distinction Centers+ national criteria for one or both Cost Index figures. Neither Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association nor any Blue Plans are responsible for damages, losses, or non-covered charges resulting from Blue Distinction or other provider finder information or care received from Blue Distinction or other providers. To find out more, contact your Local Blue Plan.
Designation as Blue Distinction Centers means that these facilities' overall experience and aggregate data met objective criteria established in collaboration with expert clinicians' and leading professional organizations' recommendations. Individual outcomes may vary. To find out which services are covered under your policy at these or any other facilities, please call your local Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield Plan; and please call your provider before making an appointment, to verify the most current information on their Network participation status. Neither Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association nor any of its licensees are responsible for any damages, losses, or non-covered charges that may result from using this website or receiving care from a provider listed in this website.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability in its health programs and activities. Learn more about our non-discrimination policy and no-cost services available to you.
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