Millions of people rely on health plan provider directories to find their doctors. However, over 80% of doctors had directory inaccuracies in key data elements, according to recent research published in JAMA by researchers at HiLabs in conjunction with the University of Colorado. One bizarre result of these inaccuracies in aggregate is the creation of ‘ghost networks.’ Ghost networks are doctors listed in provider directories but in reality are not accepting new patients or are unavailable for other reasons. Ghost networks have gotten a lot of attention recently, with renewed calls by legislators to tackle this issue in Congress. Ghost networks are very common and can worsen access to care issues. More broadly, the presence of ghost networks makes it hard for consumers to pick health plans. Consumers may be making their decision to choose a health plan based on the doctors available near them, but they would be misled by the presence of ghost physician entries.

As Congress is urged to address ghost networks, health plans must take the initiative to solve this problem proactively. A technology solution is perfectly suited to address what is fundamentally a data quality problem.