DETROIT — Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) announced it will take additional steps to deliver faster access to healthcare.
We’re told it’s part of the insurance provider’s efforts to ease prior authorization requirements by about 20%.
BCBSM tells us it will expand its “gold carding” initiative to speed up members’ access to quality healthcare. The program simplifies the prior authorization process for doctors who have extensive histories of making good decisions based on evidence. Those physicians will not be required to receive third-party approval.
“Our goal is to partner with clinicians to improve the prior authorization process so they can spend more time taking care of people and less time taking care of paperwork,” says Senior Vice President & Chief Medical Officer James D. Grant, M.D. “We seek to minimize the amount of time physicians, nurses and their staff spend on paperwork, the computer and the phone. After thorough analysis, we’ve eliminated hundreds of medical procedures that previously required prior authorization review, and we can give that time back to clinical partners to care for our members.”
The insurance provider adds prior authorization has been sped up thanks in part to technology, allowing most requests to be filed electronically and approved in seconds.
BCBSM says its processes about 87 million claims annually.
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