Blue Cross Blue Shield taking on racism as a public health crisis

Bukata Hayes grew up watching his father work to promote civil rights in Milwaukee.

That helped inspire Hayes to focus his career on racial justice and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, for five years at a private college, then for 15 years as executive director of the Greater Mankato Diversity Council and most recently at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota.

Hayes joined Eagan-based Blue Cross, which is the state's largest nonprofit health insurer, in March as its first vice president of racial and health equity. He got to know the company as a member of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation board since 2015.

In August, the foundation board appointed Hayes as its chairman, while announcing $3.2 million in grants to 27 Minnesota nonprofits supporting healthy community connections and improved access to early childhood care and education.

"I saw an incredible connection to community from the foundation," Hayes said. "Through that, I was able to interface with folks inside the enterprise and saw that same dedication and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, to racial and health equity."

Hayes applies a racial and health equity lens to work and culture at Blue Cross, leading and supporting other leaders to increase inclusiveness and representation in the organization. He and the CEO co-lead an internal advisory group, the Racial Equity Action Committee for Health (REACH), to address the needs of Black, Indigenous and people of color among members and communities more effectively.

Blue Cross isn't the only insurer to increase its focus on equity. UCare last week announced it had hired Joy Marsh, who led the city of Minneapolis' Division of Race and Equity for the past six years, as its first associate vice president of equity and inclusion.

Q: What appealed to you about the opportunity to work at Blue Cross?

A: What most appealed is the bold stance they took in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, declaring racism a public health crisis and creating a vice president position, a leadership position to do something about that. Blue Cross and Blue Shield didn't shy away from saying that when we say racial and health equity, it means we are working on the entrenched barriers created by race.

Q: What strategic priorities are working with others to advance as vice president of racial and health equity?

A: One would be that community has the answers. We have to engage and partner with community with a humble stance, listen and learn and then play our part in the solutions. Another will be to do the work in a different way. We can do better, as Blue Cross Blue Shield, but also as a state and a nation, when it comes to racial and health inequities. The way we've been going about it to this point has not had the success that we, I think, all aspire to have. We have to do our work in a different way to help us get different results, what we believe will be better results.

Q: How did your father's civil rights work influence you?

A: My father was a civil rights activist in Milwaukee in the '60s, '70s and '80s. I was born in '75 and from a young age witnessed community having the answers and working to implement those answers in the face of many barriers and assaults. I'm African American and was part of a large Black community in Milwaukee before I came to Minnesota. My willingness to step into the work was something that was fostered and nurtured in me very young. It only seemed natural to play my part for more inclusive communities having seen my father doing that work.

Todd Nelson is a freelance writer in Lake Elmo. His e-mail is todd_nelson@mac.com.