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In this episode, Dr. Andrea Willis, SVP and Chief Medical Officer at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, shares how payers can harness AI to advance affordable, accessible, and more human-centered care.

From her clinical roots to leading population health, quality, and health equity initiatives, Dr. Willis brings a deeply personal commitment to service. She describes how AI is being deployed across care management and utilization management, not to replace clinicians or deny care, but to augment teams, accelerate evidence-based decisions, and close gaps in care. In care management, AI-powered summarization and prompting help staff stay fully present with members while improving engagement and measurable outcomes. In utilization management, transparency, evidence-based criteria, and clear documentation remain foundational to rebuilding provider trust. She also highlights that relevance matters more than data volume, and that guided self-service must balance automation with timely human escalation.

Dr. Willis emphasizes transparency in prior authorization, cross-functional governance, AI literacy goals across the enterprise, and strong PHI protections. For here, scaling AI responsibly – through interoperability, collaboration, and measurable impact – is key to rebuilding trust and transforming the healthcare experience. Take a listen.

Dr. Andrea Willis is senior vice president and chief medical officer for BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, which has more than 6,500 employees and serves more than 3.3 million members throughout the state and across the country. She oversees total health management and pharmacy management and is responsible for achieving and maintaining clinical quality excellence, optimizing member care and medical management functions, oversight of clinical risk management and collaboration with the provider community.

Willis previously served as medical director of the BlueCross CHOICES Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) program. She also served as medical director for BlueCare Tennessee and Cover Tennessee.

Before joining BlueCross, Willis was director of the CoverKids program and was responsible for developing Tennessee’s federally approved State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). She also previously served as deputy commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Health.

Willis is a fellow with the American Academy of Pediatrics. She earned a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a Doctor of Medicine from Georgetown University School of Medicine. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

She was recognized by Modern Healthcare as one of its Women Leaders of 2024. Additional past honors from the magazine include her being named as one of its Top 25 Minority Executives in Healthcare and one of the 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives. Johns Hopkins Alumni Association honored her with a Distinguished Alumna Award. Becker’s Hospital Review named her as an African-American Leader in Healthcare to Know. She received the inaugural Champion of Healthcare Award in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion awarded by the Chattanooga Times-Free Press in 2021.

Willis has testified in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. She served as a member of the Health Advisory Board for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Nashville Health Care Council. She is currently President of the Board for the Middle Tennessee Chapter of the American Heart Association.