Blue Cross Blue Shield

of Louisiana
Diversity and Inclusion
Edward Foxworth III, Stacey Hays, LaToya Hemphill,
Michael Minter, Jamee Williams

BCBSLA: Companys
History

Founded in 1934 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

BCBSLA is the oldest and largest health insurer in the state.

In 1938, The Hospital Association of New Orleans was an

organization formed by several physicians within the cities
of Shreveport and Alexandria, with Baton Rouge following
in its footsteps.

In 1948, the Baton Rouge, Shreveport, and Alexandria plans

consolidated to form and function as Blue Cross of Baton
Rouge (Blue Cross Blue Shield Louisiana, 2015).

BCBSLA: Companys History

Continued

While Blue Cross of Greater New Orleans was later formed in

1958.

Blue Cross of Baton Rouge & Blue Cross of Greater New Orleans
remained separate until 1975.

The two companies came together to form a state wide plan

known as Louisiana Health Service and Indemnity Co DBA: Blue
Cross of Louisiana.

On January 1, 1985 the company begin doing business as Blue

Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana to reflect the fact both hospital and
physician coverage was provided by one plan (Blue Cross Blue
Shield Louisiana, 2015).

WHAT: Diversity Planning

Improvements Are Needed?

Taking suggestions from the Workforce Diversity

Network (2012) a stronger reporting of diversity
metrics should be utilized, not only showing the
percentage of diversity dynamics within ones
organization, but also the progression of inclusion
that the organization has made.

Based upon the budget of the organization,

resources such as scheduled diversity training
sessions/seminars or an established resource library
should be constructed to allow employees to have
access to materials for guidance in handling
diversity situations.

EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT PLAN

PROPOSAL
Staff Training

An Annual 3-Day Diversity

Retreat designed to
discuss organizational
Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities, Threats and
Trends in the organization.
An Annual 3-Day Diversity
Retreat with Community
Partners and Professional
Organizations

Staff & Ethnic Partners

Day

1 is designed for Senior

Officers to discuss diversity &
inclusion

Day

2, Exempt Employees will

provide input and perceptions

Day

3, CEOs and Key Staff of

BCBSs Community Partners and
Professional Organizations will join
the retreat to discuss how they will
collaborate to increase and
maintain progress as it relates to
Diversity.

Minimizing Potential Legal

Complications

Employers should identify potential problems in the

design and implementation of diversity programs by:
Taking steps to minimize risks from the beginning. Some
companies experiment with a pilot program. This allows them
to further study program implementation before deciding
whether to continue with it or make it available company-wide.
Some diversity programs may implicate certain federal (and
state) employment laws and we should be eager to review
suggestions for minimizing potential legal complications and
maximizing the benefits to the employers business and
workplace ("Workplace Diversity: 5 Legal Challenges of
Work/Life Programs," n.d.).

Minimizing Potential Legal

Complications

Americans with Disabilities Act Concerns: The Americans

with Disabilities Act (ADA, recently amended by the Americans
with Disabilities Amendments Act) generally prohibits
discrimination against applicants or employees with
defined disabilitiesand requires employers to provide
reasonable accommodations where requested, except where
doing so would cause undue hardship to the employer.
Some work/life requests may be prompted by an employees
medical or other covered disability.
As with Title VII, employers need to be cautious that their actions
do not result in disparate treatment or cause disparate impact
for employees with disabilities as defined in the statute and
regulations.
Here, too, expert advice should be sought for challenging or
complex scenarios.

Minimizing Potential Legal

Complications

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964:

Preventing Discrimination :
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
requires equal treatment and
nondiscrimination with respect to the terms
and conditions of employmentsuch as
compensation, benefits and application of
company policiesfor covered employers
regardless of race, color, religion, sex or
national origin (protected classes)

PLAN OF ACTION: Training

BCBSLA will have the responsibility to train

all of the corporate employees as well as
the volunteer staff from all parts of the
state.

This should initially incorporate at a

minimum of twelve formal training sessions
around the state, to be followed up with
semiannual informal training sessions via an
on-line format.

PLAN OF ACTION:
Measuring Accountability

Employees and volunteers alike should be

evaluated on their compliance with written
policies of BCBSLA.

Some options to consider would be

semiannual competency reviews and review
of diversity policies every five years.