Greater Metro

BlueCross to offer diversity scholarships

The health care industry is changing. That change not only brings increased access to insurance to populations never covered before, but also a greater need for a qualified, diverse workforce to deliver that care.

To address this need for more inclusion in the health care setting, the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Community Trust, in collaboration with the Memphis chapter of the National Association of Health Services Executives (NAHSE), is offering a $5,000 college scholarship to three Tennessee minority students.

According to BlueCross' Health Institute's white paper on health care reform and its impacts on minority populations in Tennessee, major findings suggest that African-Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians, as well as other Pacific Islanders, remain underrepresented in medicine relative to their numbers in the U.S. population and populations in specific states, regions and localities.

In addition, the Association of American Medical Colleges reported in a 2010 study that in Tennessee, out of a total of 411 graduates from medical school, 254 were white (62 percent), 97 were African American (24 percent), six were Hispanic (1.4 percent), two were American Indian or Alaska Native (0.4 percent), 42 were Asian (10 percent), one was other non-Hispanic or Latino race (0. 2 percent) and nine were self-identified as foreign (2 percent).

(For more information, contact Mary Danielson, APR, at 423-535-7694.)