HJBR Jan/Feb 2024

12 JAN / FEB 2024 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE   I love Louisiana. I love the culture, I love the people, and I love the opportunities ahead for our great state. But as a physician, and as the CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, I also worry about Louisiana. I worry about the fact Louisianians have shorter life spans than those who live in other states. I worry that babies born here are far more likely to die before their first birthday. I worry that Louisiana ranks dead last in the America’s Health Rankings annual survey, which rates states on 49 measures across five catego- ries of health: social and economic factors, physical environment, behaviors, clinical care, and health outcomes. Rather than accept this as our status quo, we should strive to improve the health of the people in our state. By Steven Udvarhelyi, MD President and CEO Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana Almost two million Louisianians count on us for their health insurance coverage. They deserve better. They look to our com- pany not just for access to healthcare that is affordable, they want us to help them lead their best lives. It has been made clear to us over the last year that our members trust us and trust our mission, which is at the heart of everything we do — to improve the health and lives of Louisianians. So, we ask them now to trust us in breaking the status quo. We know that we need to create change in a bold way to improve the health of Louisianians. This is why we have embarked on the most ambitious step in our 90-year history. We believe that partnering with Elevance Health will bring the tools, technology, and innovation that we need now to improve the health and lives of our members. This combination will blend the best of both companies. Like BCBSLA, Elevance Health believes healthcare is best when delivered locally, and that is why the market-facing aspects of their business are locally managed. Our presence and involvement in Louisiana will not change with this transaction. We have a deep understanding of Louisiana and strong relationships with our customers and with you, our provider partners. Our strong local presence that gives back to the communities will not just continue, it will be better and more impactful. The combination with Elevance Health will bring tremendous benefits that I believe can move the healthcare needle in our state at a much faster pace, including an ABOLD STEPAWAY FROMTHE STATUS QUO FOR