This issue tracks a proposal from David Pourtnoy et al. There is a public Google doc at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LNew5OEon4uir2D5Zzp0AkUPA7c9nO8reJ_M1pOy-3s/edit?usp=gmail

We should note that the design is explicitly US-centric, and that this can be accommodated within schema.org through our 'hosted extensions' mechanism.

@vholland worked on a draft design last year. This has been somewhat discussed alongside the ongoing work on cleanup of existing schema.org medical/health vocabulary (#492) but note that it is a distinct project, even if it is ultimately published within the same extension (e.g. under health-lifesci.schema.org).

Background (from @dportnoy)

In November 2015, the US health agency Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) enacted a new regulatory requirement for health insurers who list plans on insurance marketplaces. They must now publish a machine-readable version of their provider network directory, publish it to a specified JSON standard, and update it at least monthly. Many major health insurance companies across the US have already started to publish their health plan coverage, provider directories and drug formularies to this standard.

"This schema is well-defined, required by U.S. government regulation, and is already in use. So Version 1.0 should be as close to identical to the official schema that the CMS agency requires as Schema.org would allow."

• Official schema: https://github.com/CMSgov/QHP-provider-formulary-APIs
• Background: Explanation of how schema is used: https://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Data-Resources/marketplace-puf.html
• Usage: As of 3/1/2016, U.S. health plans that participate in insurance markeplaces have published:
  • ~250 health plans
  • ~26,000 URLs describing insurance coverage, provider networks, drug formularies