Addressing health care disparities: Blue Cross launches Office of Health and Health Care Disparities

This is the first article in a series on what Blue Cross is doing to address health care disparities in Michigan.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan recently launched the Office of Health and Health Care Disparities to address systematic inequities in health care delivery. As the largest health insurer in Michigan, Blue Cross wants to do its part to identify, investigate and develop strategies to address social determinants of health, which play a key role in health care disparities.

Dr. James Grant, senior vice president and chief medical officer, is working closely with the Health Care Value unit and the new Office of Health and Health Care Disparities to develop strategies to enhance the quality of health care among underserved segments of the population.

“Racial and economic disparities significantly affect health outcomes,” Grant said. “When you don’t feel the health care system understands your needs, you don’t necessarily make it a priority to go see a doctor. The Office of Health and Health Care Disparities is a starting point to address these concerns by reaching out to our members who are part of high-risk communities and helping educate providers about the issues surrounding health care disparities.”

Understanding implicit bias

One of the challenges of delivering health care in an equitable way is understanding the role that implicit bias plays in health care disparities. An implicit bias is a prejudice in favor of or against one person, thing or group that’s based on stereotypes or generalizations.

According to Bridget Hurd, the vice president of Inclusion and Diversity who is leading the Office of Health and Health Care Disparities, “Bias is considered implicit because it’s stored in the unconscious parts of the brain and can occur because of a reliance on quick decision-making and what’s perceived as familiar.”

To address the issue of implicit bias, Blue Cross began rolling out an implicit bias education program in September for providers through the Physician Group Incentive Program. The education program initially focuses on primary care physicians and office staff. It will roll out to an expanding group of physicians over the next two to three years.

“Creating awareness among physicians and office staff is an important step in building cultural competency and addressing gaps in care that may occur due to biases related to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, obesity or socioeconomic status,” Hurd said.

On July 9, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced a directive that requires medical professionals to go through implicit bias training when obtaining or renewing their licenses.

In the next article in this series, we’ll look more closely at social determinants of health in Michigan.

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Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network are nonprofit corporations and independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.