Quality at the hub of HMO Blue

Since the mid-1980s, quality management has infused the healthcare industry with a newborn commitment to improving the quality and efficiency of its service delivery processes. Increasing industry competition has served to sharpen the focus on quality. For health services companies such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, a relative latecomer to the managed care marketplace, the challenges of getting quickly up to speed were significant. This article describes the simultaneous efforts of the company to develop a substantial new presence in the managed care marketplace, while also applying the basic principles of quality assurance and continuous quality improvement to its organizational transformation.