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All Across Montana, we:
Customers
Have Provider Networks that include:
Vision, Mission and Values
Our vision is to be the health plan of choice for Montanans.
Our mission is to help people lead healthier lives.
Our values include:
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Better Health: We develop ourselves and others by continually improving health through all aspects of physical and mental well-being.
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Service: We are committed to customer service excellence. We are attentive to detail and accuracy and we look for improvements continuously. We monitor quality levels, find the root cause of quality problems, and own/act on quality problems.
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Collaboration: We work well with others and display team-oriented behaviors in all our interactions; we actively work to create a win-win environment, and we treat customers and other partners with respect.
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Innovation: We generate new ideas and challenge the status quo. We support change, solve problems creatively, and encourage creativity in others.
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Caring: We actively demonstrate concern for others, and we show respect for our customers, coworkers, and business partners.
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Integrity: We deal with others in a straightforward and honest manner. We are accountable for our actions, we maintain confidentiality, and we behave in a manner consistent with the company's Code of Business Ethics and Conduct.
History
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana, an independent, locally operated licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, has been providing health care coverage to Montanans for almost 70 years.
Blue Cross
In 1929, a prototype prepaid hospital plan was created in Dallas, Texas to help teachers pay for hospital costs. For a monthly contribution of $0.50 to the Baylor University Hospital, the teachers were guaranteed payment of up to 21 days of hospital care. In 1934, the symbol for this hospital plan was a blue cross. As the plan continued to grow, the blue cross began to show up in other parts of the country, and in 1946, the Blue Cross Commission was formed as the early national organization of Blue Cross Plans.
Blue Shield
In the early 1900's, a health coverage plan was growing out of lumber and mining camps in the Pacific Northwest. Employers wanted to provide medical care for their workers, so they arranged to pay local physicians a monthly fee for the services the employees used. These pioneer programs provided the basis for what would become the modern Blue Shield Plans. The logo was inspired by the U.S. Army Medical Corps insignia and the serpent associated with Greek mythology. This image along with the blue shield would come to represent the Blue Shield Plans, the first of which was formed in 1947, as Associated Medical Care Plans.
Montana Blue Cross Blue Shield
The Hospital Service Association (Blue Cross) entered Montana in 1940 and the Blue Shield (Montana Physicians' Service -- MPS) in 1946. A local medical community of about 200 physicians loaned the company $20,000 (each contributed $100) and then agreed to accept MPS compensation as payment-in-full for their services, a standard which continues today for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana customers. The two companies, the Hospital Service Association and the Montana Physicians' Service, partnered from 1946 until 1952, when the Hospital Servcie Association moved to Great Falls, and in 1964, became Blue Cross of Montana. In 1986, the two companies merged to form Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana. The Caring Foundation of Montana, Inc., founded by BCBSMT in 1992, includes both the Caring Program for Children and the Care Screenings Program. The Caring Program provides primary and preventive health benefits for uninsured, lower income children, while Care Screenings makes available mammograms and prostate screenings for uninsured, lower income adults. BCBSMT provides all administrative support for the Foundation as part of our corporate contribution, so all other contributions go directly to medical care.
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