In this post-Affordable Care Act (ACA) era, many consumers are making health coverage decisions for the first time and in new ways. To inform their decisions, they often turn to provider directories—electronic or printed lists of physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare providers in each health insurance carrier’s products.

In a new report for the California HealthCare Foundation, Manatt Health examines policy, operational, business, and technical obstacles to well-functioning, integrated provider directories and how they have been overcome in four states: Colorado, Maryland, New York, and Washington. The report details the perspectives and experiences of consumer advocates, carriers, providers, state-based marketplaces (SBMs), and state Medicaid agencies in those states, with the goal of informing California policymakers and stakeholders as they seek to improve consumer access to accurate provider network information.