Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) has launched a new initiative to open retail storefronts across the state in order to provide consumers answers to health care questions and understand how the Affordable Care Act will affect them.

The initiative, “Ready, Set, Go!” is an novel approach to health care, said Brad Wilson, BCBSNC president and CEO, in an exclusive interview with WRALTechWire.

It’s innovative, said Wilson, “because people do not expect their health insurer to have a storefront, a retail center.”

“It’s a unique idea,” said Wilson, “and we’ve been surprised and pleased at the conversation that it has started.”

North Carolina’s largest health insurer opened a retail storefront in Morrisville earlier this year. BCBSNC plans to open five more throughout the state. Someone can walk into a storefront, said Wilson, and discuss products and services, get assistance with claims, and in some cases, receive basic care within the facility.

“We believe it provides a customer service and a customer value proposition that people will find attractive,” said Wilson. It helps, said Wilson, to have the BCBSNC brand on display, which is like “a magnet for consumer interaction.”

BCBSNC isn’t the first BlueCross BlueShield network to deploy retail store fronts, said Wilson.

“We have watched the retail success in other Blue Cross divisions,” said Wilson, discussing a program in Florida, “and we know that there is a lot of confusion and anxiety about the ACA and what it all means.”

The innovative approach will help customers, said Wilson, who will be able to build a relationship with BCBSNC employees in the storefront.

“Innovation is found in lots of different forms and shapes,” said Wilson, “and this is one of them.”

In addition to the launch of Ready, Set, Go!, BCBSNC has implemented transparency tools on price and quality, said Wilson, ahead of the new law passed by the NC State Legislature and signed by Gov. Pat McCrory on August 21, 2013. The bill requires hospitals to report the amount charged for the 100 most frequent reasons for admissions and the 40 most common surgical and imaging procedures.

“We’re looking for those things, those companies, and those technologies that will actually transform and accelerate the transformation,” said Wilson.

These innovative approaches, said Wilson, must also represent good opportunities for BCBSNC. The company must diversify its as it continues to innovate.

“We’re looking for ways to diversify our revenue base including our recent investment in a company that owns FastMed Urgent Care,” Wilson said.

BCBSNC made a minority investment in the FastMed Urgent Care in September 2012. FastMed is headquartered in Clayton and also has urgent care centers in Arizona. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

BCBSNC is also encouraging innovation in health care through their foundation, said Wilson, which is working to combat health problems like childhood and adult obesity.

“We’ve put together a program, an initiative, and a competition for health care innovations and we awarded three innovation awards last year,” he said.

Three Triangle companies won health innovation challenge awards, which sought to address health problems associated with obesity. IN-R-FOOD, The Walking Classroom, and Sqord were selected as winners of the challenge in September of 2012.

“It is a great program,” said Wilson, “these companies are all really cool.”

“We’re going to continue to incent and stimulate those kinds of endeavors,” said Wilson, “and reward those who are really making a difference.”

“Obesity will remain one of our number one focal points,” said Wilson. Twenty-five percent of school-aged children in North Carolina, said Wilson, are either overweight or medically obese.

“We can’t pass laws and raise enough money to pay for the health consequences that circumstance, if we let that go on generation after generation,” said Wilson, “we would indeed bankrupt the company.”

Wilson referenced a recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found that 19 states saw a decline in obesity rates among low-income preschoolers between 2008 and 2011. Twenty states held steady at current obesity rates within this population.

“That’s encouraging,” said Wilson, “what can we do to support this?”

Obesity is one of these pervasive problems, said Wilson, who compared current media stories – particularly those in The Atlantic – to how Reader’s Digest treated smoking in the 1960s.

“One of the first steps of addressing any kind of pervasive problem is keeping at it and keeping it ever present in the public mind, and working through solutions,” said Wilson.

Wilson sees the BCBSNC retail stores as a way to create face-to-face interactions and keep major health problems clearly in view within the public eye.

“When people walk into those retail stores, there’s an opportunity to establish a trusting relationship about whatever their concerns are,” said Wilson, “and by responding to their needs and concerns, that relationship will grow.”

The company, of course, hopes to appeal to the estimated 600,000 people who will soon be shopping for new individual policies as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

“Doing good and doing well are complementary endeavors,” said Wilson, “and the retail store provides an environment that enables that concept to flourish.”