With Violet Benchmarks, we’re laying the groundwork for inclusive care with the industry’s first measure of provider cultural competence. But what does it mean to be “verified inclusive”?
At Violet, we evaluate and verify the cultural competence of health care providers across three communities: BIPOC, LGBQ, and TGNC. Using a combination of self-attestations and proprietary claims analysis, we assess providers using a clinical framework, assigning them one of four Benchmark levels: No Benchmark, Awareness, Proficiency, or Excellence. These Benchmarks serve as a real-time snapshot of a provider’s inclusivity, updating as they build their skills through training on the Violet platform, participate in relevant professional development, or log lived experiences in their profiles.
For health plans, provider organizations, and patients, Violet Benchmarks provide a standardized and trustworthy view of where a provider stands on their cultural competence journey. As providers improve, their Benchmarks are updated, creating a reliable source of truth that can be shared across payers. These Benchmarks also empower patients, who can find inclusive providers in health plan directories, confident that those listed have been evaluated and verified for their commitment to serving diverse communities.
Verified Inclusive Providers
Verified Inclusive Providers are clinicians and therapists who have achieved an Awareness Benchmark in one or more communities. This achievement is directly linked to the criteria for attaining Verified Inclusive Organization status, making it a critical measure of both individual and organizational inclusivity.
More than just a credential, this verification ensures that patients, especially those from marginalized communities, can confidently select a provider who has demonstrated an understanding of their unique needs. For example, a transgender patient can confidently search for a TGNC-inclusive provider, knowing that Violet has vetted them for that specific competency. For tailored 1:1 patient-provider matching, we prioritize providers who have reached Proficiency or higher in the relevant community.
Health plans and provider organizations integrate Violet’s benchmarking data into their self-service directories via our API, enabling patients to filter by community competency and easily find the provider best suited to their needs.
Verified Inclusive Organizations
As we support an increasing number of health plans in building culturally responsive networks, we’ve recognized the necessity for a clear standard to define what constitutes a Verified Inclusive Organization. With the expansion of value-based care initiatives, health plans are increasingly focused on integrating inclusivity into their payment tiering criteria for enhanced reimbursements, prioritizing quality over quantity. Violet helps health plans easily identify which of the provider organizations in their network are verified inclusive, using participation and Verified Inclusive Providers as the foundation for evaluation.
Our partner, Rocky Mountain Health Plans (RMHP), uses value-based payment to reimburse behavioral health providers within its Independent Provider Network. By doing so, RMHP can sustain quality behavioral health services for Medicaid Members, recognize outcomes over volume, and distribute financial resources more equitably.
Previously, RMHP’s safe-space providers— trained to work with members of LGBTQIA+ communities— were verified through self-attestation. Moving forward, RMHP is shifting to Violet’s dynamic data to determine reimbursement eligibility. Violet will benchmark RMHP's providers, giving objective insights into each provider’s language capabilities and cultural competence in serving BIPOC, LGBQ, and TGNC individuals. Aggregating these benchmarks will enable RMHP to more accurately identify inclusive practices and organizations among their partners, helping to qualify them for enhanced reimbursements.
Beyond qualifying organizations for enhanced reimbursements, building a culturally responsive network involves understanding which organizations are high performers and which may benefit from additional training and support.
Violet’s criteria for Verified Inclusive Organizations:
- 30% of all invited providers must successfully submit their Violet profiles in order to be benchmarked.
- 40% of those providers must achieve an Awareness Benchmark or greater in at least one community.
By establishing these criteria, Violet not only helps health plans recognize and reward inclusivity, we’re also giving all provider organizations a clear roadmap for improving their cultural competence, enabling them to better serve diverse patient populations.
Why get verified?
While value-based payment tiering and enhanced reimbursements are powerful incentives, they are not the only reasons to pursue Verified Inclusive Organization status. Many health care organizations take pride in their commitment to equitable care, and Violet's verification gives them a meaningful way to showcase that commitment. The Verified Inclusive Organization badge strengthens their marketing efforts, providing a competitive edge when responding to RFPs or pursuing accreditations like NCQA’s Health Equity Distinction.
In today’s health care landscape, inclusivity is more than a buzzword—it’s a tangible, measurable, and essential element of delivering quality care. By becoming a Verified Inclusive Provider or Organization, health care professionals and organizations can take the next step toward building trust with patients, improving health outcomes, and leading the way in equitable care.
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