Jacobs Jeremy W, Khan Shazia S, Stephens Laura D, Booth Garrett S
Department of Pathology, Microbiology, & Immunology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Health Equity. 2025 Jun 12;9(1):339-342. doi: 10.1089/heq.2025.0059. eCollection 2025.
Achieving health equity requires data systems that recognize and reflect provider diversity. The National Provider Identifier (NPI) system underpins United States health care administration, yet its gender data standards remain outdated, conflating sex and gender and lacking inclusive options. These deficiencies undermine research, equity initiatives, and the visibility of transgender and nonbinary providers. In an era of growing political hostility to diversity, administrative neutrality is insufficient. The National Plan and Provider Enumeration System must establish itself as a model of gender-inclusive policy by separating sex and gender variables, expanding identity categories, and implementing transparent, regularly updated standards grounded in science.
实现健康公平需要能够识别并反映医疗服务提供者多样性的数据系统。国家医疗服务提供者识别码（NPI）系统是美国医疗管理的基础，但其性别数据标准仍然过时，混淆了生理性别和社会性别，且缺乏包容性选项。这些缺陷损害了研究、公平倡议以及跨性别和非二元性别医疗服务提供者的能见度。在一个对多样性的政治敌意日益增长的时代，行政中立是不够的。国家计划和医疗服务提供者枚举系统必须通过区分生理性别和社会性别变量、扩大身份类别以及实施基于科学的透明且定期更新的标准，将自身打造成为性别包容性政策的典范。
