Fall 2024 - The LGBT FSA has received information about insurance issues related to gender markers in Workday & Priority Health. Though this issue appears to be primarily impacting nonbinary folks, we encourage everyone to read through the information below and confirm that your information is being recorded & processed correctly. The LGBT FSA Steering Committee Chair is working with campus partners and Priority Health to address the issue and will post additional updates to this page as they are available.

If you are being impacted by this issue, we encourage you to submit a Campus Climate Report so we can track the scope of this problem. You may chose to submit a climate report anonymously if you wish. 

Resolution

The email below from Tara Bivens, Director of Total Rewards and HR Operations at GVSU, sent to the LGBT FSA on 10/4/24 includes information on the resolution of this issue and the process that will be in place going forward.

If you have any questions or concerns about this issue going forward, you can reach out to us at the LGBT FSA, but also feel free to reach out to HR directly. In addition to the information from Tara below, we have also learned that GVSU now has a dedicated account manager at Priority Health who I’m sure will be part of this process moving forward and able to assist with issues that arise in the future.

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Good afternoon, everyone, 

We’re excited to share important updates about GVSU’s Priority Health healthcare plan and want to extend our heartfelt thanks for your patience and understanding. Everyone deserves access to healthcare that respects their identity. We’ve been working closely with Priority Health to address challenges faced by transgender, non-binary, and gender-diverse members of our community.  

Here’s what you can expect:

1. Respectful Communication: Priority Health is reviewing all GVSU employees to identify where more information is needed to ensure a seamless claims process experience. As they identify this information if they cannot determine the support needed from previous claims, a dedicated member of their customer advocate team will reach out directly to have a conversation to identify what care support is needed for billing purposes. They’ll reach out in a sensitive and respectful manner, prioritizing individual needs over a binary framework.
2. Enrollment Support: If you’re a new member with a “U” or “X” gender marker, a dedicated customer advocate will reach out to help you enroll following a sensitive and respectful process as outlined in number 1.
3. Commitment to Training: Priority Health is dedicated to supporting the GVSU community and ensuring that all members have the best possible experience when seeking care. They are exploring certification and additional training for care managers on sensitivity and awareness. This initiative will empower care managers to assist members more effectively. Additionally, updated sensitivity training will be provided to customer service team members.
4. Preferred Names and Pronouns: As Priority Health engages with members, they will validate preferred names and pronouns, updating their records accordingly. For those who have transitioned or undergone the state sex designation process, gender identity will also be included in their system.
5. Long-Term Solutions: As Priority Health upgrades their claims system, they are working on a solution to allow enrollments with non-gender-specific codes. This advancement will allow for us to end this model at that time.

These changes represent a step towards ensuring that all GVSU faculty and staff feel affirmed and supported in their healthcare journey. Thank you to everyone who helped make this possible!

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out.

Sincerely, 

Tara Bivens, MPA
Director of Total Rewards and HR Operations
Human Resources
Pronouns: she/her/hers

The Issue

What seems to be happening is that some folks, especially folks that identify as a nonbinary gender, are having their gender markers changed to a binary gender in our systems without their knowledge/intervention.  We’re aware of a similar issue a few months ago, where HR staff were calling nonbinary/trans folks and asking them to choose a binary gender.  After talking to folks in HR, we were assured this was due to a temporary technical issue in workday that had been resolved, and that that would not happen again.  We have reached out to confirm with HR that they are not manually changing anyone’s gender again (which they should not be).

The other issue, which may or may not be related, is people’s gender marker in the Priority Health system not matching their actual gender either.  According to HR, this is due to an issue with Workday and how it communicates gender data to our Priority Health insurance provider.  If your gender in workday is set to “undeclared,” then the Priority Health system, when it receives that data, will automatically assign a gender of male.  HR is working on getting Priority Health to change the behavior on their end such that the system will instead assign a gender of “X,” which is a legally valid nonbinary gender.  Unfortunately, we don’t have a timeline on how long this is going to take.  HR is also asking for a direct care manager from the PH side to be assigned to help staff who are experiencing reimbursement issues because of this work through those issues.  We will let you know when we have that contact.

What You Can Do

Until we have a long-term resolution to this issue, we are advising members to do a few things in the meantime:

1. Check your gender markers in workday and other campus systems, and make sure it’s set correctly.
2. Check with Priority Health directly to see what values your gender markers are set to there.  You can use the customer service number on your insurance card.
3. If you’ve had any healthcare services in the past few months that are related to gender (hormones, cervical cancer screenings, etc.) check with your healthcare provider to see if they are having trouble getting the insurance claims approved.
4. If you are having any trouble, we encourage you to file a campus climate concern-we are hoping this will raise the visibility of the issue and help get it resolved.  You can do this anonymously.