1940 – 1949
- 1945 – Roy McDonald founds Tennessee Hospital Service Association; serves as company's first CEO
- 1949 – BlueShield program forms
1950 – 1959
- 1950 – Community enrollment plan makes health care available to public
- 1956 – Major medical coverage becomes available
- 1959 – Jim Hill appointed as CEO
1960 – 1969
- 1965 – Begins administering Medicare
- 1969 – Name officially changes to BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee
1970 – 1979
- 1970 – James Waters becomes CEO
- 1973 – Robert McGuff named CEO
- 1977 – Awarded state employee contract
1980 – 1989
- 1984 – Introduces first HMO (CareChoice)
1990 – 1999
- 1990 – Roy McDonald passes away after serving 45 years as chairman of the board
- 1992 – Tom Kinser becomes CEO
- 1994 – Becomes a TennCare Managed Care Organization, now operating as BlueCare Tennessee, to serve the state’s Medicaid population
- 1996 - Begins merger with BlueCross BlueShield of Memphis
2000 – 2009
- 2000 – Enrollment reaches 1.5 million people
- 2002 – Vicky Gregg named CEO
- 2003 – Establishes the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Foundation
- 2006 – Enrollment reaches 3 million people
- 2009 – Opens new LEED Gold-certified corporate campus on Cameron Hill
2010 – 2019
- 2011 – Becomes first in the industry to implement enterprise-wide data encryption
- 2012 – Outreach efforts top $10 million
- 2013 – Bill Gracey named CEO
- 2015 – Medicare Advantage PPO Plan earns first 4-STAR quality rating
- 2015 – JD Hickey becomes CEO
- 2016 – BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Foundation awards $1.3 million grant to support the expansion of grassroots opioid abuse prevention program
- 2018 – Construction begins on the first BlueCross Healthy Place in Memphis
