Health Care Service Corporation Named A 2017 World’s Most Ethical Company For Second Year By The Ethisphere Institute

CHICAGO, March 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), the nation's largest customer-owned health insurer has been recognized by the Ethisphere Institute as a 2017 World's Most Ethical Company®.

The Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, recognized HCSC, which operates Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans in Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, for excelling in promoting ethical business standards and practices internally, enabling managers and employees to make good choices. HCSC is one of only three companies recognized in the health insurance industry.

"It's always been our goal not just to say we have high standards, but to truly live our purpose and core values," said Paula Steiner, president and chief executive officer, HCSC. "To encourage this, I interact directly with employees – from small group meetings to all-employee virtual town halls. Engaging employees this way helps build a culture based on integrity, respect, commitment, excellence and caring, which are all necessary to succeed in our changing and competitive environment."

HCSC's notable accomplishments include its Compliance Ambassador program, which enlists nearly 100 management volunteers from business units across the company to serve as liaisons for the Ethics and Compliance department. This program fosters a workforce that is personally committed to an ethical workplace culture and aids in demonstrating best practices. 

The Ethisphere Institute also noted HCSC's commitment to advancing a diverse and inclusive workplace by implementing strategies to recruit and retain top talent that is reflective of the diverse communities served. This enables HCSC's workforce to help manage the complexities of health care and advocate for a health care system that best serves members. Part of this strategy includes leveraging Business Resource Groups to better understand the wants and needs of employees, foster collaboration and engage the workforce in issues related to diversity and inclusion.

HCSC's commitment to diversity and inclusion is also demonstrated through the Corporate Supplier Diversity (CSD) Program, which seeks to maximize procurement opportunities for minority and women-owned companies. More information on this and other initiatives can be found in the 2016 Diversity and Inclusion Annual Profile.

"Our commitment to stand with our members in sickness and in health begins with operating our business ethically and with integrity," said Tom Lubben, senior vice president and chief ethics and compliance officer, HCSC. "To be honored for the second year in a row reinforces our goal to empower our employees to uphold strong internal and external practices and provide the tools they need to do so even in challenging situations."

In its 11th year, the World's Most Ethical Companies designation recognizes those companies who align principle with action, work tirelessly to make trust part of their corporate DNA, and in doing so, shape future industry standards by introducing tomorrow's best practices today.

"Over the last 11 years we have seen the shift in societal expectations, constant redefinition of laws and regulations and the geo-political climate. We have also seen how companies honored as the World's Most Ethical respond to these challenges," explained Timothy Erblich, chief executive officer, Ethisphere. "They invest in their local communities around the world, embrace strategies of diversity and inclusion, and focus on long term-ism as a sustainable business advantage. Congratulations to everyone at HCSC for being recognized as a World's Most Ethical Company."

The World's Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute's Ethics Quotient^® (EQ) framework which offers a quantitative way to assess a company's performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way. The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies, rather than all aspects of corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance and ethics.

Honorees
The full list of the 2017 World's Most Ethical Companies can be found at http://worldsmostethicalcompanies.ethisphere.com/honorees/.

Best practices and insights from the 2017 honorees will be released in a series of infographics and research throughout the year. Organizations interested in how they compare to the World's Most Ethical Companies are invited to participate in the Ethics Quotient.

About Health Care Service Corporation
Health Care Service Corporation is the country's largest customer-owned health insurer and fourth largest health insurer overall, with more than 15 million members in its Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. A Mutual Legal Reserve Company, HCSC is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. For more information, please visit HCSC.com, visit our Facebook page or follow us at www.twitter.com/HCSC.

About the Ethisphere Institute
The Ethisphere^® Institute is the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices that fuel corporate character, marketplace trust and business success. Ethisphere has deep expertise in measuring and defining core ethics standards using data-driven insights that help companies enhance corporate character. Ethisphere honors superior achievement through its World's Most Ethical Companies recognition program, provides a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA) and showcases trends and best practices in ethics with the publication of Ethisphere Magazine. More information about Ethisphere can be found at: http://ethisphere.com.

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SOURCE Health Care Service Corporation