Members report access problems after Blue Shield Medicare Advantage PPO rollout; board hears update

Blue Shield of California and San Francisco Health Service System officials told the Health Service Board on Jan. 8 that the enrollment transition of roughly 19,100 Medicare members completed in mid‑December, but several members and advocates reported continued access problems and communication gaps.

The board heard a presentation from Olga Stavinska Velasquez, SFHSS operations manager, and Charles Lee, Blue Shield senior manager for group retiree plans. Stavinska Velasquez said SFHSS began sending enrollment files early to speed ID‑card delivery and that “a very small portion, about 7% of the records sent to Blue Shield” required manual processing; most were resolved by Dec. 20. She also described a feature that allows callers to SFHSS to be routed directly to a Blue Shield concierge line and reported first‑contact resolution above 90 percent for SFHSS call center work in December.

But public commenters said those…