Benefits carriers are leaning in on health equity
While major insurance carriers still find value in diversity, equity and inclusion and health equity efforts, there is a slight decline in the breadth of their efforts, according to Mercer's 2023 Carrier Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Request for Information. Instead, they are focusing their time and resources where they can make the biggest impact, while also increasing their attention when it comes to the collection and leveraging of employee data to improve member experience.
The findings are based on responses from 60 insurance carriers, representing Medical, Life, Accident and Disability and Voluntary Benefits, to Mercer’s fourth annual RFI regarding aspects of DEI, health disparities and social determinants of health.
Carriers, in particular, highlighted their efforts and experience in collecting, utilizing and leveraging data to improve member experience.
One common approach involves overlaying Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set quality measures into their membership data, allowing carriers to measure and evaluate their performance on a wide range of markers. This enables carriers to identify where racial and ethnic disparities exist by market and line of business. They can then analyze disparity trends and conduct a segmented review based on demographic and socioeconomic characteristics such as gender, race/ethnicity, housing status, rural-urban residence, community health conditions and geographic areas.
In addition to using HEDIS, carriers are actively leveraging social determinant of health indexes to identify gaps in outcomes for key clinical focus areas. This analysis plays a crucial role in determining targeted interventions that can effectively bridge these gaps. The insights gained from this analysis are then integrated into the carriers’ population databases, enabling a comprehensive understanding of member and population health outcomes.
Carriers are further utilizing data to improve their customer care experience and develop innovative approaches to better serve their members. By incorporating social determinants of health information into their care management systems, nurses gain a broad perspective of challenges members may face. This enables care teams to engage with members in a personalized manner and deliver tailored interactions.
The survey also found that there is still wide variation among carriers in how they support clients and improve employees’ health and financial outcomes. There are also variations between government and commercial investments and capabilities.
Notably, employers can play a very prominent role in improving health outcomes for their employees by encouraging them to fully self-identify on matters that impact their access to benefits and quality of services they receive. Employers can also prioritize health equity through their brand’s reputation by promoting fairness and inclusivity in healthcare which will strengthen their relationship with current employees as well as enhance their appeal to future hires.
