| Year | Company Milestone |
|---|
| 1932 | First Hospital Service Plan was organized as the Associated Hospitals of Essex County, Inc. |
| 1936 | The Plan went statewide as Hospital Service Plan of New Jersey (HSP). |
| 1940 | The Enabling Act providing for the organization of non-profit medical service corporations was passed by the Legislature and signed into law in May. |
| 1942 | The Medical-Surgical Plan of New Jersey was incorporated. |
| 1960 | Legislation was passed setting up the State Employees' Health Benefits Commission empowered to purchase basic health insurance from Blue Cross and Blue Shield. |
| 1964 | Legislation was enacted permitting participation by New Jersey Blue Cross and Blue Shield in national accounts, joint Blue Cross Blue Shield subscriber contracts, and master group contracts. |
| 1966 | Medicare went into effect July 1, with more than 80 of about 120 hospitals in New Jersey electing Blue Cross to administer their claims under Part A. Blue Cross and Blue Shield put Complementary coverage on the market, to fill in the gaps under Medicare. |
| 1967 | HSP went on the market with a freestanding benefit for prescribed drugs, with participating pharmacists accepting the Plan's fee for preparation plus cost of materials. |
| 1969 | New Jersey's Medicaid bill was enacted and amended to preserve a role for Blue Cross in the administration of this new benefits program for welfare categories. |
| 1972 | The marketing of Major Medical benefits to local experience-rated groups (LERs) was approved by the Commissioner. Coordination of Benefits (COB) with other carriers for group subscribers was instituted to reduce duplicate payments. |
| 1973 | New Jersey's first Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) opened in July in Trenton under HSP sponsorship, in cooperation with Mercer Regional Medical Center. Marketing of this new HMO product, labeled "Medigroup," subsequently was broadened to Vineland and a physicians' group serving Cumberland and Salem Counties. |
| 1977 | Blue Cross and Blue Shield announced year-round "Open Enrollment," subject to a one-year, pre-existing exclusion and automatic transfer of applicants with impaired health into a co-pay program known as "Co-Op" coverage. Blue Shield was empowered to underwrite Dental coverage. |
| 1981 | Major Medical made available to individual subscribers, regardless of health history. |
| 1984 | New subsidiary, Medigroup, Inc., formed to develop a statewide network of affiliated HMOs. |
| 1985 | Pre-admission Review (PAR) cost containment program begun to help identify procedures for which inpatient admission is not necessary. Other cost containment programs, Mandatory Second Surgical Opinion Program (MSSOP) and Incentive Ambulatory Surgery Program (IASP) made generally available to groups of 50+. Development of Managed Care program begun to coordinate cost containment activities. |
| 1986 | Hospital Service Plan of New Jersey, Inc. (Blue Cross of New Jersey) and Medical-Surgical Plan of New Jersey, Inc. (Blue Shield of New Jersey) merged to become Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey, Inc. |
| 1989 | The Plan took a leading role in creating the New Jersey Cesarean Section Task Force, putting its extensive data on providers, treatments and costs to strategic use to examine why New Jersey's rate of cesarean births is one of the nation's highest. |
| 1991 | The Plan began implementation of its sophisticated "single stream" claims processing system. |
| 1992 | Landmark legislation ensured consumer access to health care coverage by spreading the risk for the individual market among all carriers who underwrite health insurance in New Jersey, effectively ending BCBSNJ's role as the state's insurer of last resort. BCBSNJ strengthened its position in the managed care market with initiatives to create a more cost-effective hospital network and enhance technological support. |
| 1993 | BCBSNJ implemented a strategic decision to expand its managed care operations, creating managed care hospital and dental networks and developing a new portfolio of managed care programs. In addition, the Plan entered the Medicaid HMO market. |
| 1994 | Managed care growth continued: membership in managed care programs rose to 25 percent of total membership. |
| 1995 | As the result of a competitive bidding process, BCBSNJ retained its role as administrator of the hospital portion of the State of New Jersey's indemnity plan, while regaining the medical/surgical and major medical portions of the State Health Benefits Program. BCBSNJ was also awarded the State's New Jersey Plus program. These changes were effective January 1, 1996, and resulted in the addition of 500 new jobs and an increase of 103,000 members to BCBSNJ's managed care rolls. |
| 1996 | The Plan entered the Medicare HMO market. Near the end of the year, BCBSNJ agreed to sell its family health centers to the company that had overseen their construction and managed them. |
| 1997 | BCBSNJ abandoned previously announced plans to acquire the business of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware and to convert to a mutual insurance company and merge with Anthem Insurance Companies, principally as a result of regulatory delays and related litigation. Efforts to expand the company's regional presence were refocused on the creation and licensing of HMO and insurance company subsidiaries in surrounding states. |
| 1998 | The Company began doing business as Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey (Horizon BCBSNJ) and its operating subsidiaries adopted similar names. Horizon BCBSNJ's membership exceeded 2 million in New Jersey. Pennsylvania and New York health insurance and Delaware HMO and health insurance subsidiaries were licensed. |
| 1999 | Horizon BCBSNJ announced a corporate realignment and implemented initiatives for the Company to achieve world class status. Horizon Healthcare of New York was licensed to operate as an HMO in New York City and surrounding counties. Horizon Mercy pursued acquisitions that make it the largest provider of Medicaid HMO services in New Jersey and one of the largest providers in the United States. |
| 2000 | Horizon BCBSNJ explored options to strengthen its presence, grow its businesses and emphasize its renewed commitment to South Jersey, while scaling back Pennsylvania and Delaware operations. |
| 2001 | Legislation adopted establishing a process that would allow Horizon BCBSNJ to convert from its current status as a not-for-profit health service corporation to a "for-profit" domestic stock company. |
| 2002 | Horizon BCBSNJ introduced the World Class Clinical Quality health care initiative in an effort to improve the overall health of residents in the region by providing access to care, making information available to providers and consumers and promoting evidence-based medicine through effective preventive health and disease management programs. |
| 2003 | The Company's Health Care Dollars and $ense campaign, a multiyear, multimedia initiative, was launched to provide education to the public on the nature of the crisis in rising health care costs and its impact on all health care constituents. The Company established and provided substantial initial funding for The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, a charitable organization dedicated to promoting health, well-being and quality of life in New Jersey's communities. |
| 2004 | Horizon BCBSNJ continued to solidify its position as New Jersey's largest health insurer and a premier regional health care company, with projected year-end enrollment in excess of 3 million members and nearly $1 billion of accumulated surplus. Over 1 million dental members enrolled as of September 30, 2004. |
| 2005 | Horizon BCBSNJ decided not to pursue a conversion of the company to a for-profit corporation. During 2005, enrollment grew by 106,000 members, raising the company's total to over 3.2 million members. At the same time, the company retained over 97 percent of its members, which was the second highest retention percentage of all Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans with similar levels of local market share. In addition, Horizon BCBSNJ made a major commitment to the Medicare Part D program, building the necessary infrastructure to support the program and taking a leadership role in helping seniors understand their health care choices. When the program went live in January 2006, Horizon BCBSNJ covered over 132,000 seniors. |
| 2006 | In August 2006, Horizon BCBSNJ made a strategic business decision to withdraw its health insurance products in New York. Horizon Healthcare Insurance Company of New York members were to be transitioned to other carriers by February 28, 2007. The company continued to sell its dental plans in New York. The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey made its largest grant to date, the five-year, $5 million grant initiative will support health centers throughout New Jersey that provide health care to uninsured and underserved populations. |
| 2007 | Horizon BCBSNJ awarded $6 million in payments to 60 network hospitals as recognition for high quality and patient safety measures in the company's inaugural year of its Hospital Recognition Program. The Hospital Recognition Program is a collaboration between Horizon BCBSNJ and the Leapfrog Group and is focused on encouraging improved quality of care in New Jersey hospitals. The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) upgraded Horizon BCBSNJ's HMO accreditation to "Excellent with Distinction" for its early adoption of the Physician and Hospital Quality Plus Program that provides members with important information about physicians and hospitals in the Horizon BCBSNJ network. |
| 2008 | Horizon BCBSNJ invests in a first-in-the-nation, ground breaking pilot program demonstrating the effectiveness of the Patient Centered Medical Home concept of care. Focusing on members with diabetes, the pilot program gives incentives to primary care physicians to partner more closely with their patients. As a result of the program, patients dramatically increased adherence to their prescribed medical protocols, improving member health and lowering health care costs. Horizon BCBSNJ announces it is exploring the possibility of converting to a for-profit company. |
