Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, a division of Health Care Service Corp. based in Richardson, has made progress developing its innovation lab in Dallas’ West End at Factory Six03.
BCBS is the first tenant in the 237,000-square-foot building, which is being renovated into high-tech office space by Granite Properties.
Granite, a privately held, commercial real estate investment and management company based in Plano, said BCBS will use the top two floors of the 7-story redevelopment.
According to Kevin Cassidy, BCBS president of enterprise national accounts, the company will use its 31,000-square-foot space there to create the “‘C1 Innovation Lab,’ designed to improve healthcare quality while lowering the cost.”
The C1 Innovation Lab, which will have an open-floor concept with a large staircase connecting the two floors, will feature a three-pronged approach to the offices: collaboration space, co-located business operations space, and space for a design team.
The collaboration space is available for all teams to work, including the design team, the co-located workforce, internal stakeholders, clients, vendors, and academic representatives. The co-located business operations will include customer service and care management teams and enterprise health care management teams forming strategic partnerships to improve care coordination, health outcomes, and member experience for select accounts. And the design team—comprised of strategists, design thinkers, and creators—will review concepts, pilot products, and processes in order to bring healthcare solutions to the market.
The C1 Innovation Lab will partner with other innovation teams within the HCSC Innovation Platform team. The lab plans to help improve customer experience and focus on incubation and developing solutions for national employers to make healthcare more affordable.
The sixth floor of the C1 Innovation Lab will have around 60 or 70 BCBS employees, clinicians, and business and healthcare experts to assist customers in groups, while the seventh floor will have seven to 10 employees on the design team.
Cassidy says BCBS chose to develop its lab in the West End to show its commitment to Texas and to be involved in the area’s rebirth of creative and innovative companies.
Interior renovation of the two floors cost $2.5 million and is expected to be completed later this year.
A “groundbreaking” ceremony will occur on Feb. 23, when BCBS and Granite Partners will sign a steel beam that will later become a part of the space. The expected opening date is June 2017.
