Blog

Across the U.S., approximately one in five adults—or about 60 million people—experience mental illness. Nearly 8% of U.S. adults experience substance use disorder in combination with mental illness. Adequately addressing behavioral health is critical to delivering high-quality, whole person care. Integrating behavioral health into primary care and other medical settings is a powerful lever to improve access to timely and effective care...

Nearly a year ago, the Blue Shield of California Industry Initiatives team published a Health Affairs article focused on the role of data sharing for LGBTQ+ communities. One year later, our support and advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community is unwavering; ...

Improving health and social service delivery in California is a collaborative effort. That’s why the Blue Shield of California Industry Initiatives team was proud to present on multiple panels during ViVE. ViVE is the annual digital event focused on the business of transformation in healthcare, bringing together 7,000+ C-suite executives, senior...

As 2023 comes to a close, I’ve been reflecting on the last two years spent as part of Industry Initiatives at Blue Shield of California, and what brought me here in the first place. Throughout my career, I’ve worked to build collaboration to drive...

The nation’s progress toward value-based care is impeded by the siloed nature of the healthcare industry. Joe Castiglione, principal program manager of Industry Initiatives at Blue Shield of California, shares how Blue Shield implemented an industry...

The communities in which we live have a tremendous impact on our health. Social determinants of health (SDoH), holistic health factors such as availability of affordable housing and healthy foods, and educational or employment opportunities, contribute...

Fragmentation in health care contributes to multiple problems, including gaps in patient care, inefficiencies in clinical care and operations, poor flow of data, and misaligned incentives. In this panel presentation, hear how Blue Shield of California and CareOregon are building bridges and breaking down barriers to a create a more cohesive health care system and looking at the entire health care ecosystem as a whole.

Understanding population health and realizing the goal of health equity require the collection, sharing, and use of comprehensive data – including race, ethnicity, and language (“REaL”) and sexual orientation and gender identity (“SOGI”) data. Yet...

In late March, I was honored to speak at the 2022 Northern California State of Reform Health Policy Conference in Sacramento, on their “Innovations in Care Collaboration” panel. I was joined by my fellow panelists Crystal Eubanks of the California...