DETROIT, Sept. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Almost half of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network of Michigan participating physicians have registered with the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare's online service that helps physicians streamline the process of enrolling in health plan provider networks.
In June 2004, the Blues joined with CAQH, a not-for-profit alliance of the nation's leading health plans and networks, to help launch Universal Credentialing DataSource(R) in Michigan. The online service allows physicians and other health care professionals to fill out, free of charge, just one application to meet the enrollment and credentialing data needs of multiple health plans.
With the registration of 13,556 participating providers (49 percent) in 14 months, the Michigan Blues' drive far exceeds the CAQH's benchmark of 33 percent in the first year. The Blues reached the 33 percent mark in just nine months, in March of this year.
"The response to this launch is remarkable in some ways, but really understandable when you think about it," said Thomas Simmer, M.D., Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan senior vice president and chief medical officer. "Providers are just like everyone else -- they don't like paperwork and they're looking for ways to streamline their processes. By teaming up with CAQH, we've given providers a way to simplify their business and they've responded enthusiastically."
Providers aren't the only ones saving time and money. Every time one of them completes an application using the Universal Credentialing DataSource, the Blues reduce the time and material costs involved in mailing, processing and storing paper applications. The Blues have cut the processing time by several days and expect that trend to continue.
"Now that we are able to receive more complete information in an automated fashion, we are able to spend less time chasing down missing information," said Douglas Woll, M.D., Blue Care Network senior vice president and chief medical officer. "Our focus is to decrease administrative activity, which will result in savings benefiting everyone involved in the health care system."
Michigan physicians and medical societies were introduced to the system through demonstrations in Lansing, Grand Rapids, Detroit, Traverse City, Southfield and Marquette.
Brenda Hough, Ph.D., of Petoskey, Mich., praises the system as a time- saver for her practice. "Now we fill out one credentialing application and we're done," said Hough. "I approached the task of completing the online application with reservation, but found it to be a simple, streamlined process."
The service was launched in 2002 and is now available to physicians in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. As of Sept. 1, 2005, more than 250 organizations and 225,000 medical providers are participating in the initiative. The service is available to all licensed physicians and is rapidly becoming the gold standard for medical provider credentialing with 10,000 new medical providers participating in the service each month. Providers interested in learning about the service should call the CAQH Help Desk at 1-888-599-1771.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, a nonprofit corporation, provides health care benefits to just over 4.7 million members through a variety of plans: Traditional Blue Cross Blue Shield; Blue Preferred, Community Blue and Healthy Blue PPOs; Blue Choice Point of Service; Blue Care Network HMO, and Blue HSA(SM) plans compatible with health savings accounts. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network are nonprofit corporations and independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. For more information, visit http://www.bcbsm.com .
Blue Cross Blue Shield of MichiganCONTACT: Helen Stojic, +1-313-225-8113, or Matt Haran, +1-313-225-8606,both of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, mediarelations@bcbsm.com
Web site: http://www.bcbsm.com/
