PROVIDENCE – Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island has landed another big contract.
Just days after the announcement that the health insurer had been awarded the management contract for employees and non-Medicare-eligible retirees of the Rhode Island government, it was revealed that BCBSRI has taken over health insurance administration duties for Lifespan, effective Jan. 1, 2020.
“As part of the Lifespan Total Rewards program, we regularly evaluate our employee benefit plans and administrator to ensure we are offering Lifespan employees the most contemporary, competitive and cost-effective programs available,” said Lifespan spokesman Richard Salit in a statement Friday. “After a careful and thoughtful review, we recently decided to change our health plan administrator from Tufts Health Plan to Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, and offer pharmacy benefits through Express Scripts Inc. effective January 1, 2020.”
The plan covers roughly 20,000 employees and their families, according to Lifespan. The company had 12,733 full-time equivalent employees as of January and was the largest private employer in the state at that time, according to PBN’s 2019 Book of Lists.
BCBSRI’s newly announced contracts from the state government and Lifespan reflect major contract wins for the health care plan administrator.
An earlier version of this story had an incorrect ranking for Lifespan in the state when compared with other private employers.
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor. You may reach him at Bergenheim@PBN.com.
Just a note that Lifespan is the largest private employer in the state based on employing people locally.