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In the News: Blue Shield of California's DD Johnice Talks About the Nuance of Gathering Race Data for Health Care

Johnice tells HealthPayer Intelligence, 'it's not a black and white answer, my race, my ethnicity.'

DD Johnice, vice president of the Health Transformation Lab at Blue Shield of California, told HealthPayer Intelligence how she determines race and ethnicity in the nonprofit health plan's effort to bring health care to all Californians.

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DD Johnice

Healthcare leaders including DD Johnice, vice president of the Health Transformation Lab at Blue Shield of California (Blue Shield), recognize that race and ethnicity are not so simply classified in reality. These five racial categories alone may not offer feedback on cultures, language proficiencies, and other aspects of a members’ racial and ethnic identities.

“As an innovator, I'm also thinking about the fact that it's not a black and white answer, my race, my ethnicity. People are allowed to self-identify and, in fact, that's our gold standard: we want them to self-identify,” Johnice told HealthPayerIntelligence.

Read the full story here.