Blue Shield of California is a not-for-profit health plan provider founded in 1939 and based in San Francisco, California. The organization serves over 3.4 million health plan members and nearly 65,000 physicians across the state. Blue Shield of California was founded by the California Medical Association.
Blue Shield of California, then known as California Physicians' Service, was created by the California Medical Association on December 18, 1938, and was incorporated on February 2, 1939. The organization began offering coverage on March 6 of that same year. In 1946, the organization was among a founder of the National Association of Blue Shield Plans, which later became the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Today, Blue Shield of California is an independent licensee of the national association.
The Blue Shield of California health plan was the first in the nation to offer catastrophic coverage in 1950, provide coverage for a heart transplant in 1984, offer online benefit and enrollment information in 1996, and offer an online enrollment system for agents in 1998. In 2006, the National Committee for Quality Assurance, commonly referred to as NCQA, recently recognized Blue Shield as an "excellent" health plan for service and clinical quality. In 2010, Blue Shield of California, Dignity Health, and Hill Physicians Medical Group formed an Accountable Care Organization that covers 41,000 individuals in the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS). During its first 2 years, this program reduced inpatient use and health care costs significantly.
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