BlueCross BlueShield of Texas presented Huston-Tillotson University leadership with a check Thursday to fund the school's new Boldly B.L.U.E. program.
Chevalier DeShay, senior director of network management for BCBSTX and a Huston-Tillotson alum, said she and her colleagues became interested in exploring this partnership after being repeatedly confronted with dismaying data about pregnancy-related deaths in Texas. As one solution for these outcomes, members of the committee lobbied for the state’s Legislature to extend Medicaid coverage from two months to a full year after childbirth;. But the report laid out additional improvements needed to move the needle, including to engage Black communities in developing maternal health programs and to increase the capacity of the maternal health workforce. The new program at Huston-Tillotson aims to tackle both these goals.