2023 Mission Report

Quality

Affordability

Equity

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Quality

We’re proud to be a local health plan, one that allows access to the broadest provider network in the country. Whether we’re helping customers in our retail stores, collaborating with doctors to improve healthcare, or funding wellness programs in schools, our deep roots across the community matter. Our local relationships and national reach help us provide our members with access to high-quality healthcare.

quality

Meeting our members where they are

In 2023, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the first Your Blue StoreSM—by opening our fifth location in Narragansett. Our stores reflect our investment in Rhode Island, and there’s nowhere else in the state like them.

See what Your Blue Store means to our members and associates

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With local associates who know healthcare and our community, our stores are a place to get help choosing the right plan or to have questions answered in person. They’re also a place to be healthy, where members can take free fitness classes, attend cooking demos, and talk with BCBSRI nurses about managing health issues. Many members who take the classes even build friendships that extend beyond the stores.

See what you can expect in Narragansett.

For members who don’t live near a store, we held events—such as cooking demos, fitness classes, and vaccine clinics—at senior centers, community centers, parks, and other locations throughout the state.

108,591
visits to our stores and events in 2023

Doing yoga together

Last summer, we brought free yoga classes to local beaches and parks with Your Blue Bus, inviting Rhode Islanders to relax and recharge. Nearly 400 people joined us at some of our state’s most beautiful places, from Narragansett to Providence to Lincoln.

26
yoga events
“I’ve met a lot of nice people at Your Blue Store fitness classes. We have fun and joke around. I see them every week, so it’s starting to feel like family.”
—Paula White, BCBSRI member
Read more about Paula.
quality

Ranking #1 in member satisfaction – three years in a row

Our members rated BCBSRI #1 in member satisfaction—for the third straight year—among commercial health plans in the Northeast region in the J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Commercial Member Health Plan Satisfaction Study.1

In 2023, our overall satisfaction score was 29 points higher than the Northeast region average, and we achieved the highest score in:

  • Customer service
  • Out-of-pocket costs
  • Billing and payment
“Our associates are devoted to delivering the best possible experience, whether members are calling customer service or stopping by Your Blue Store.”
—Martha L. Wofford, President And CEO, BCBSRI

The reward of customer loyalty

In 2023, our members helped us earn the highest Net Promoter Score (NPS) of any Blues plan in the country. NPS measures customer satisfaction and loyalty, which also shows in the customers who stay with us year after year.

2023 Health Insurance Industry benchmark equaled 28. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island scored at 59.
98%
of our employer group customers chose to stay with BCBSRI in 2023
12,000+
membership growth in 2023

2023 Medicare plans rated 5-Stars

As a result of member feedback, all of our 2023 Medicare Advantage plans earned the highest rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)—5-out-of-5-Stars—for the second consecutive year.

We also earned 5-Stars in these member-focused categories:

  • Customer service
  • Staying healthy: Screening and tests
  • High levels of member retention

We're proud to say that our 2024 Medicare plans are once again the highest-rated plans available to all Medicare-eligible Rhode Islanders at 4.5-Stars. 2

And BCBSRI members rated us “Best Health Plan Possible.” 3

Rated 5-stars by Medicare
“At Blue Cross, they actually care. They have thousands of members, but they make me feel like an individual.”
—Ardell Majette-Wyche, BCBSRI Medicare Advantage member

Stay healthy as you age

Listen to The Rhode to Health.
Doctor smiling at young patient in his father's arms.

Earning high quality rating from NCQA

For the ninth year, BCBSRI has earned a 4.5 out of 5 rating on our preferred provider organization (PPO) products from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).4 This makes BCBSRI one of only 14 PPO plans in the country to have received a score of 4.5 or above in NCQA’s commercial Health Plan Ratings for 2023 and places us in the top 4% nationally. (No health plans achieved the top rating of 5.0 in this category.)

NCQA sent additional good news recently when it granted BCBSRI Health Plan Accreditation for another three years, for the period 2023 through 2026.

NCQA Accredited Health Plan.
Rating
4.5/5
Ranking
Top4%
out of 339 PPO plans nationally
“We’re able to score so highly because of our collaborative relationship with providers, who help ensure that our members are getting the right care, at the right time, and in the right place.”
—Dr. Farah Shafi, Chief Medical Officer, BCBSRI
quality

Connecting children and teens with mental healthcare

Our kids are struggling. In Rhode Island, 24% of children have a diagnosable mental health problem. And with such a great need for services, it can be challenging to get care quickly from a behavioral health professional.5

To address this crisis and help our children thrive, we committed to reaching 50% of Rhode Island youth with mental health support by 2025. Throughout last year, we made investments to expand access to behavioral healthcare and collaborated with community partners to promote wellness.

66,153
RI youth supported in 2023
Doctor who is taking a call on his mobile phone while holding a tablet computer.

A resource for pediatricians

When pediatricians have a question about treating a mental health issue, they can turn to the Pediatric Psychiatry Resource Network (PediPRN). BCBSRI supports this service, where pediatricians can consult with mental health specialists about patients’ care at no cost.

$45,000
in funding to PediPRN in 2023

More urgent care visits for families in crisis

Too many children in crisis are waiting to see a behavioral health professional. To help families access the care they need, we collaborated with providers to make almost 200 urgent care appointments available each month. This is a significant increase from 2022 and includes provider offices that offer care in multiple languages.

A program helping kids face their fears

We continued to work closely with Braver, a Rhode Island-based behavioral health practice that provides evidence-based exposure therapy for kids with anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. More than half of their patients have improved enough by their fourth month to successfully graduate from weekly coaching, and 80% have graduated by their sixth month.

40%
reduction in academic, social, and family problems about 4 months after starting coaching6
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Prevention programs in local schools

In 2023, we pledged $1.06 million over the next three years to Rhode Island Student Assistance Services (RISAS) to support their free substance abuse prevention and mental health program, Project SUCCESS.

80
RI schools offer Project SUCCESS
Students in a Rhode Island classroom.

Hear how we’re working to protect Rhode Island youth.

Listen to podcast.
“This large investment from Blue Cross will provide predictable funding to RISAS to help schools continue to support services for youth substance use and mental health at a time when the need for these services could not be greater.”
—Sarah Dinklage, CEO, Rhode Island Student Assistance Services

Sign up for The Greatest 8, a mental wellness texting service for parents of kids 0-8. With BCBSRI’s support, text messages are available in English and Spanish, and web content is delivered in several languages.

Get weekly tips.
A child sitting in his father's lap looking at a cell phone.

Read our guide for parents navigating the mental healthcare system in Rhode Island.

Download the guide.

1Tied for 2023. For J.D. Power 2023 award information, visit jdpower.com/awards.

2Rated 4.5-Stars or higher by Medicare in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Every year, Medicare evaluates plans based on a 5-Star rating system.

3Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) survey administered by Medicare.

4NCQA evaluates health plans on the quality of care that patients receive, how happy patients are with their care, and health plans’ efforts to keep improving. The rating of BCBSRI PPO products is part of the Private Health Insurance Plan Ratings for 2023.

52023 Rhode Island KIDS COUNT Factbook.

6Median change between pre-treatment and first follow-up total scores on the Child Sheehan Disability Scale-Parent Version (CSDS-P). Parents completed CSDS-P online without involvement of Braver clinicians or coaches.