Health plans’ directories will have to list the languages spoken by providers and their front-office staffers, say whether offices are accessible for those with physical disabilities, and note whether a provider has evening or weekend hours.īut officials are trying to figure out how they might use demographic data to guide patients to practitioners with similar identities while avoiding unintended consequences, particularly around sexual orientation or gender identity.ĭr. Plans must increase the number of community health centers - which treat more patients from underserved communities than other clinics - in their networks, as well as certified nurse-midwives, to help reduce maternal mortality. It requires anti-bias training for providers, their front-office staffers, and health plan customer service representatives. The framework includes better coverage for services that address health disparities. State officials say the Colorado Option will be the first health plan in the nation built specifically to advance health equity, a term used to describe everyone having the same opportunity to be healthy. And the data collected will be reported to the state only in aggregate. That means insurers must ask, but the providers can decline to answer. But after physician groups raised privacy concerns, the state opted to make reporting of the demographic data by providers voluntary and confidential.
For example, a plan might find that 30 percent of its enrollees are Black but that only 20 percent of its providers are.Ĭolorado had considered including providers’ demographic data in directories so patients could use it to choose their doctors. The state and insurers will be able to see how similar the plans’ patient and provider populations are and then work on ways to narrow the gap, if needed. “Traditionally, data like this isn’t collected.” “Nobody knows how many particular racial or ethnic identities they might have among their providers, what the percentages are, and how they correspond with the communities that they serve,” said Kyle Brown, Colorado’s deputy commissioner for affordability programs. Some other states - including California - and Washington, D.C., require plans sold on their health insurance marketplaces to collect demographic data from patients, although not providers, and patients are generally asked only about their race and ethnicity, not their sexual orientation or gender identity. Colorado is requiring those plans to build out culturally responsive provider networks, with a diverse set of health practitioners who can meet the needs of a diverse population. As part of this effort, the state is asking insurers offering certain health plans to collect demographic information, such as race, ethnicity, disability status, sexual orientation, and gender identity, from both health professionals and enrollees - a move that some health care workers say could threaten their safety.Ī new state law takes effect later this year that requires insurers to offer the “Colorado Option,” a plan on the state-run Affordable Care Act marketplace with benefits that have been standardized by the state. Now, Colorado is trying to help patients find such providers. Research shows that when patients see health providers who share their cultural background, speak the same language, or mirror their experiences, their health care outcomes improve. “They feel more connected because I’m part of the community,” Meyer said.