Health Equity is a Business and Moral Imperative

The message from state and federal regulators is intensifying: Addressing health equity is no longer a choice for insurers, it is a part of doing business with Medicare and Medicaid. A growing number of states now mandate that insurers incorporate capabilities for tackling health equity in their proposals to become Medicaid managed care organizations. The requirements include creating a chief health equity officer position, developing a health equity plan that’s updated annually, and meeting specific quality measures (Oliver Wyman recently supported Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services implement the governor’s executive order to address health equity).

At the federal level, the Health and Human Services Department put a stake in ground in...