The new requirement that health plans operating on HealthCare.gov

...in 2016 must update their provider directories monthly "reflects an ongoing challenge for health insurers in the new retail consumer environment that pervades public exchanges. It is a consumer-driven marketplace and it gets to the problem that at the point of sale the consumer might have a great deal of interest in a particular doctor being in-network in a plan. And if they cannot rely on a directory, there is a real challenge."

— Jack Rovner, a principal for The Health Law Consultancy in Chicago, told AIS's Health Plan Week.