See our history of serving Tennessee
Our roots go back to 1945, when Roy McDonald started the Tennessee Hospital Service Association. Ever since, we’ve focused on giving our neighbors great service and easy access to quality, affordable health care.
See our history of serving Tennessee
Our roots go back to 1945, when Roy McDonald started the Tennessee Hospital Service Association. Ever since, we’ve focused on giving our neighbors great service and easy access to quality, affordable health care.
1945
Roy McDonald founds Tennessee Hospital Service Association; serves as company's first CEO
1949
BlueShield program forms
1950
Community enrollment plan makes health care available to public
1956
Major medical coverage becomes available
1959
Jim Hill appointed as CEO
1965
Begins administering Medicare
1969
Name officially changes to BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee
1970
James Waters becomes CEO
1973
Robert McGuff named CEO
1977
Awarded state employee contract
1984
Introduces first HMO (CareChoice)
1990
Roy McDonald passes away after serving 45 years as chairman of the board
1992
Tom Kinser becomes CEO
1994
Becomes a TennCare Managed Care Organization, now operating as BlueCare Tennessee, to serve the state’s Medicaid population
1996
Begins merger with BlueCross BlueShield of Memphis
2000
Enrollment reaches 1.5 million people
2002
Vicky Gregg named CEO
2003
Establishes the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Foundation
2006
Enrollment reaches 3 million people
2009
Opens new LEED Gold-certified corporate campus on Cameron Hill
2011
Becomes first in the industry to implement enterprise-wide data encryption
2012
Outreach efforts top $10 million
2013
Bill Gracey named CEO
2015
Medicare Advantage PPO Plan earns first 4-STAR quality rating
2015
JD Hickey becomes CEO
2016
BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Foundation awards $1.3 million grant to support the expansion of grassroots opioid abuse prevention program
2018
Construction begins on the first BlueCross Healthy Place in Memphis
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