March 21, 2012

HHA-12-4
DC-12-4
ASC-12-4
MS-12-4

BC-12-4
SA-12-4
HP-12-4

To:

All Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Contracting Providers

From:

Connie Winkley – Education/Communication Coordinator
Institutional Provider Relations
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, Inc.
An Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association

Subject:

BCBSKS Member Eligibility and Claim Status now available on AVAILITY

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas is pleased to announce that our contracting providers can now use the Availity® Health Information Network portal – at no cost to the provider – for the following transactions for Blue Cross and Blue Shield  members in Kansas:

BCBSKS has provided online, self-service functions to our providers since 2011, but has faced in-house limitations in further developing these popular functions. The solution is the company’s new relationship with Availity.

Availity offers a multi-payer portal at www.availity.com that gives physicians, hospitals and other health care providers secure access to multiple payers’ information through a single sign-on. Providers who require other online services, such as precertification, will be re-directed back to the secure section of the BCBSKS Web site without having to sign-on again.

Increasing the online, self-service adoption rate among BCBSKS contracting providers is expected to lower administrative costs for both the provider and BCBSKS, improve efficiency at the facility and decrease the number of calls made to the company’s customer service center, freeing representatives to assist providers with more complicated questions.

During the next several weeks, Availity will be contacting BCBSKS contracting providers  via e-mail to provide important information you need to know about Availity . Please open and read these e-mails as they contain useful information that is important for your organization to know.

If you are not already registered, getting started with Availity is as easy as 1-2-3. Go to www.availity.com and click on the registration link.

  1. Provide your organization’s name, address and federal tax ID number.
  2. Designate a Primary Controlling Authority (PCA), a person who signs the Availity access agreement for your organization.
  3. Designate a Primary Access Administrator (PAA), a person responsible for assigning the Availity functions/permissions to other users at your organization. This person is commonly the office or department manager.

Please view these Availity FAQs for additional information.

If you have additional questions regarding Availity, please contact Availity Client Services toll free at 800-Availity (800-282-4548) or e-mail questions to support@availity.com. Availity Client Services is available 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT, Monday through Friday (excluding holidays).

 

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