Friday, February 05, 1999
Insurer Anthem says network will add black doctors
BY TIM BONFIELD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield said Wednesday that it plans to add more black doctors to its managed care health networks.
In October, the insurer was criticized for dropping Greater Cincinnati's only two black orthopedic surgeons from the network serving its largest health plans, and for failing to measure whether its doctor networks reflect the racial and cultural diversity of Anthem enrollees.
Anthem's plan was part of several recommendations from a community task force on diversity that the insurer co-sponsored. The company promised to begin tracking diversity within its networks. It also promised to add more black doctors where possible without changing the quality and cost standards it uses to evaluate participating doctors.
Previously, the insurer did not seek any racial information about its physicians because it was concerned that doing so would be considered discriminatory, said Dr. Neeraj Kan wal, medical director at Anthem and chairman of the Diversity Task Force.
Anthem is changing that policy because several organizations that accredit health plans have recently begun requiring insurers to meet social, cultural and linguistic needs of members.
Adding black doctors at Anthem won't be simple. Less than 2 percent of the 4,500 doctors in Greater Cincinnati are African-American, even though blacks comprise about 12 percent of the metropolitan area population.
The shortfall exposes a need for a communitywide effort to train and recruit more minority physicians, Dr. Kanwal said.
As for the two doctors who were dropped by Anthem, neither has been reinstated. The doctors and the insurer haven't talked for months.
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