CEO Dan Loepp: How Blues Plans Are Working to Improve Addiction Treatment

Daniel J. Loepp

| 2 min read

Daniel J. Loepp is President and Chief Executive Officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Mr. Loepp has directed sweeping initiatives and innovations that have led to a historic transformation of BCBSM and health care in Michigan. He played a major role in modernizing the state’s health care delivery system in a process that led to enactment of new laws that transformed BCBSM to become a nonprofit mutual insurance company in January 2014. Mr. Loepp has led BCBSM initiatives to improve health care quality and slow cost increases, saving nearly $1.5 billion through several programs that have garnered national attention and served as models implemented across the country. Under his leadership, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is helping to revitalize and strengthen Detroit, Grand Rapids and Lansing. In 2011 and 2012, Blue Cross moved 3,000 BCBSM employees into downtown Detroit and the company is one of the largest employers in the city’s Central Business District. In Lansing, BCBSM subsidiary AF Group transformed a long abandoned power plant into a national headquarters. Mr. Loepp has stood by a commitment that BCBSM should be a driving force for good in Michigan’s core cities. It is reflected in BCBSM’s workforce diversity and inclusion efforts, supplier partnerships and community initiatives. In his tenure, BCBSM has been named Corporation of the Year in Finance and Insurance Services nine times by the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council. The company has also been named one of America’s Top Organizations for Multi-Cultural Business Opportunities by DiversityBusiness.com and ranked five consecutive years as one of the top 10 Regional Companies for diversity by DiversityInc magazine, including being ranked No. 1 for consecutive years in 2015 and 2016. Mr. Loepp was honored as a 2016 recipient of the Edward N. McNamara Goodfellow of the Year Award. He was selected as Michiganian of the Year by The Detroit News in 2013. Mr. Loepp joined Blue Cross in 2000. In 2011, 2012 and 2013, he served as board chair of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA), an organization that includes all 36 Blue Cross plans and provides health coverage to more than 106 million Americans.

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When someone is suffering from addiction or trying to get help for a loved one, finding credible treatment facilities is a burden that can be overwhelming and confusing during a time of immense difficulty. While a lot has been done to improve addiction treatment, the industry is still highly unregulated, according to a recent Blue Cross Blue Shield Association Health of America Report on Opioid Use Disorder. That’s why Blue Cross is working with doctors and other experts to help ease this burden by making sure our members have access to the most effective treatment centers to get the care they need. The program, which will include a new designation for effective treatment programs, builds upon the existing Blue Distinction® system that evaluates and identifies the highest quality doctors and hospitals. The Blue Distinction program is one of the many ways that Blue plans are working together to ensure patients are given the most effective and appropriate treatments through value-based and patient-centered care. And to help connect people with these top-ranked treatment centers, Blue Cross is creating a national hotline, which will make access much easier. I’m proud Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has been working closely with physicians, experts and community partners to combat the harmful opioid addiction crisis impacting our nation and state. To reach as many people as possible, our efforts include creation of an Opioids Provider Toolkit; funding initiatives to fight opioid abuse; a public website, Opioids 101; policy changes to limit prescriptions; and coordination. Nationally, we’re seeing concrete results of our work with opioid use disorder diagnoses down slightly in 2017. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan saw a 34 percent decrease in opioid prescriptions in the last four years – an even greater drop than the 29 percent decline in opioid prescriptions dispensed nationwide. But more collaboration is needed to fight this epidemic. We at Blue Cross will continue to work with our partners to enhance awareness of this serious health issue and expand access to quality treatment. A new system to designate treatment centers using proven methods – and a hotline to locate them -- are two more critical and proactive steps to help individuals and families nationwide and, most importantly, save more lives. If you found this helpful, you might also enjoy:
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4 Comments

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Blues Perspectives

Aug 22, 2018 at 9:13pm

We’re glad you liked it Ashley! Thanks for sharing.

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Ashley Smith

Aug 22, 2018 at 5:07pm

I think this is AWESOME that BCBSM is taking action to fight against this horrific epidemic! This epidemic has hit my family hard over the years as well and I am happy to see moves being made in a positive direction. This will give the people that actually want and are willing to get help options. Thank you!

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Blues Perspectives

Jul 25, 2018 at 2:39pm

Thanks for sharing, Jill. We are happy to hear you like the Blue Distinction program idea! We definitely want to try to make treatment centers more reliable and will work hard to help give more oversight so that individuals can get the proper help they need.

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Jill Kraczon

Jul 25, 2018 at 11:34am

I think the Blue Distinction Program is a GREAT idea to recognize good, quality treatment centers. Because my area of work is with fraud, I see the results of NOT having a program like this. I would be curious, though to see what it takes to make one recovery center stand out over another. Is it based on success? Doctor/patient ratio? The overall program set up? One of the biggest complaints I hear is the lack of knowledge when picking out the right program for a family member. They all appear to be "amazing" when reviewing the websites. But, the pictures are deceiving, the treatment is deceiving, and when the patient actually shows up to learn it's an old, run-down motel instead, it's frustrating for the families. I hope part of the distinction recognition includes actually visiting the treatment centers and really getting to KNOW them.

MI Blues Perspectives is sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, a nonprofit, independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association