Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) announced that its industry-leading Blue Premier program improved quality of care for patients and saved nearly $164 million in health care costs in 2022, helping curtail the impact of medical cost inflation for members and small and large businesses. The total savings since the program was created in 2019 has reached close to $650 million, according to an analysis from Blue Cross NC. Blue Premier is just one of the ways Blue Cross NC is working to make health care more affordable. In 2022, Blue Cross NC reduced medical expenses by $392 million through a number of targeted cost savings initiatives. 

Blue Premier is recognized as one of the most rapid and comprehensive shifts to value-based care in the nation by any health plan. Participating doctors and hospitals and Blue Cross NC are jointly accountable for meeting quality and cost measures. This approach modernizes health care by rewarding quality of care, resulting in fewer unplanned hospital admissions and more preventative care. Payments to hospitals and doctors, including independent providers, are based on improved delivery of care rather than only the number of procedures or tests performed. This program is building a system where high-quality care is affordable for all North Carolinians. 

“Blue Premier is not only making health care more affordable and accessible; it’s improving the quality of care for our members,” said Troy Smith, vice president of affordability and value programs at Blue Cross NC. “The year-over-year results show that Blue Premier is a sustainable model of collaboration in the health care system where the member is at the center of it all.”

For more information, read the full press release in our Newsroom .