TENNESSEE HEALTH CARE HALL OF FAME NOMINEE VICKY GREGG

A nationally recognized health care champion, Vicky Gregg has guided industry reforms and improvements from which Tennessee still benefits today, held herself and the organizations she worked for to the highest level of professionalism and integrity and served as a role model to her team members and her community through continued board service.

Gregg graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and immediately began her career in nursing. Following her time in the clinical side of health care, she took on a series of roles at Humana and had extensive involvement with health reform efforts driven by the national Clinton Health Reform plans.

In 1995, she joined BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee (BCBST) as senior vice president. She became BCBST’s CEO in 2003 and served in that role through 2012. Gregg was BlueCross’s first female CEO and, at the time, one of few female CEOs in Tennessee and in the health care industry as a whole.

During her nearly 20 years with BlueCross, Gregg helped manage the company’s profitability and strategic direction. She was focused on serving Tennesseans, demonstrated by her contributions to TennCare reform efforts led by Gov. Phil Bredesen and the partnership to launch the state’s CoverKids program. While CEO, she grew the company’s membership from 2.2 million to 3.1 million. Gregg led the creation of Shared Health which provides health services to those with special care needs, like chronic conditions, long-term support services, Medicaid or Medicare and highlights Gregg’s commitment to broader access to health care. Additionally, she oversaw the purchase of Gordian/Onlife to empower patients to make better-informed health and wellness decisions based on their clinical data.

Gregg’s leadership contributed not only to the scope of BlueCross’s operations, but also to the organization’s positive culture. She cultivated a strong commitment to the highest ethical standards and helped keep commercial rate increases below industry averages to best serve BlueCross members. During her leadership, she calmly and effectively guided the company’s response to tighter federal regulations, continuous industry change and an increase in public scrutiny.

She has served on dozens of national and state boards including the University of Tennessee’s board of trustees and the board of directors for First Horizon, TeamHealth and Landmark Healthcare. She was board chair for the BlueCross BlueShield Association, the National Institute of Health Care Management and America’s Health Insurance Plans, the leading national trade organization for insurers. She currently serves on the boards of Acadia Healthcare, Erlanger Health System, TriZetto and Quest Diagnostics and on the Electric Power Board (EPB) of Chattanooga.

One of Gregg’s enduring legacies with BlueCross is her work to establish the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Health Foundation to support community health and education, particularly in underserved areas. It has grown to be the fourth largest foundation in the state and the only one of that size dedicated to health care.

Throughout her more than 40-year career in health care, Gregg has earned numerous recognitions for her professional achievements, including: the Humana Outstanding Accomplishment Award (1991); Kentucky’s Commission on Healthcare Reform (1993–1995); Tennessee Governor’s Roundtable (1997); appointment to the U.S. National Institutes of Health Commission of Systemic Interoperability (2004); appointment to Tennessee’s e-Health Advisory Council (2006); American Lung Association of Tennessee’s Woman of Distinction (2009); Modern Healthcare’s Top 25 Women in Healthcare (2009). In 2013, the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Health Foundation gave $1.5 million to the University of Tennessee–Chattanooga’s School of Nursing to establish the Vicky B. Gregg Chair of Gerontology to honor Gregg and continue improving health care for under-served populations.