Blue Cross recognizes local health care facilities for demonstrating quality cardiac care

In the United States, one person dies every 34 seconds from a cardiovascular disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.** That’s why Blue Distinction^® Centers for Cardiac Care — part of the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program — are so important. Blue Distinction^® Centers for Cardiac Care empower patients with the information they need to choose quality, in-network cardiac care.

In February 2022, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, in coordination with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, invited health care facilities in Michigan to participate in the application process for a nationwide designation as a Blue Distinction^® Center for Cardiac Care. To date, nearly 20 providers in the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan commercial PPO network have completed the designation process.   

Blue Distinction Centers are nationally designated providers that have proven to deliver quality care with safe practices that lead to better health outcomes for patients. In order to provide meaningful quality and cost differentials to employers, employees and providers, the Association updates criteria for designation in each specialty area approximately every two years. Approved facilities must reapply for Blue Distinction Center designations during each reevaluation cycle to continue to be assessed for eligibility for the designation program. 

To receive a Blue Distinction Center for Cardiac Care designation, health care facilities must demonstrate expertise in delivering safe and effective cardiac care for: 

• Percutaneous coronary interventions
• Coronary artery bypass graft
• Aortic valve replacement
• Mitral valve replacement and repair

Health care facilities recognized as Blue Distinction Centers are assessed using quality information supplied by facilities and third-party data registries, which were developed with input from the medical community and leading accreditation and quality organizations. Blue Distinction Centers+ have also proven to provide more cost-efficient care and are evaluated using cost measures derived from Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies’ medical claims. Only those health care facilities that first meet the quality measures for Blue Distinction Centers are considered for designation as a Blue Distinction Center+.

Facilities that have been designated under the Blue Distinction Centers for Cardiac Care program can be found using the Find a Doctor search feature, available at bcbsm.com.

As part of the Blue Distinction Centers for Cardiac Care program, Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies across the nation have recognized hundreds of health care facilities for providing quality care for patients and for having lower in-hospital mortality rates and lower bleeding complication rates for angioplasty than non-Blue Distinction Centers. Designated facilities also meet additional national standards, with patients facing fewer readmissions and mortality rates for coronary artery bypass graft procedures and heart attacks, compared to facilities that don’t meet the criteria.

In addition to meeting the quality criteria, Blue Distinction Centers+ for Cardiac Care are 21% more cost-efficient, on average, than their non-Blue Distinction Centers+ peers.

Since 2006, the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program has helped patients find quality specialty care in the areas of bariatric surgery, cancer care, cardiac care, cellular immunotherapy, fertility care, gene therapy, knee and hip replacements, maternity care, spine surgery, substance use treatment and recovery, and transplants, while encouraging health care professionals to improve the care they deliver.

For more information

• To learn more about Blue Distinction Specialty Care and to find a Blue Distinction Center for a specific area of specialty care, including cardiac care, visit the Blue Distinction Specialty Care website.
• If you’re interested in applying for designation as a Blue Distinction Center for Cardiac Care, send an email to Michelle Williams at MWilliams3@bcbsm.com.

**Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan doesn’t own or control this website.