Q: Who is Availity?
A: Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, Availity launched in 2001 as a joint venture of two health plans to improve efficiency and reduce administrative complexity in the healthcare industry, with the ultimate goal of improving health outcomes. Today, Availity’s network serves over 2 million providers nationwide. Mercy Care and Mercy Care Advantage are collaborating with Availity to develop and improve online tools for healthcare providers.

Q: Why do the Mercy Care and Mercy Care Advantage want me to use Availity Essentials?
A: Mercy Care and Mercy Care Advantage, and Availity are working to streamline healthcare processes wherever possible to help providers access secure information and submit transactions online. By using the no-cost, multi-payer Availity Essentials solution, you can access information and transactions from Mercy Care and Mercy Care Advantage, and other payers on one website, with only one login and one password to remember.

Mercy Care and Mercy Care Advantage providers can use Availity Essentials for eligibility and benefits, claims status, prior authorizations, and more features will be added during the coming months. Your account will also give you access to your Mercy Care and Mercy Care Advantage Payer Space, which offers you direct access to resources from Mercy Care and Mercy Care Advantage and other important applications.

Q: Why did I receive a request from Mercy Care and Mercy Care Advantage to register for Availity Essentials?
A: Availity is now the provider portal for Mercy Care and Mercy Care Advantage. So, if your organization is not registered, do it today to get the newest tools, resources and customized training opportunities.

If you're already registered with Availity Essentials for another payer, you're all set. You can use your existing log-in credentials to get started with Mercy Care and Mercy Care Advantage. We recommend that you and other users in your organization begin using Availity Essentials for all your Mercy Care and Mercy Care Advantage transactions to see its advantages for yourself.

Q: Are there big differences in submitting and inquiring on prior authorizations?
A: Submitting and inquiring about prior authorizations has never been easier! The Availity Essentials authorization dashboard has everything you need in one spot. It allows you to:

• Quickly search and check status and then pin the response details to your dashboard
• View or print detailed information
• Add attachments to incomplete authorization requests (coming soon for prior authorizations)
• Update authorization requests

Q: What type of reports can be generated on Availity Essentials?
A: All reports currently available on the MWP will be transitioned to Availity Essentials in Payer Spaces. This includes ProReport and Ambient reporting.

Q: Can a provider update their demographics using Availity Essentials?
A: Yes. If a provider needs to update their demographics, they can do this by using the Contact Us feature, located in their Payer Space.

Don’t forget! If your organization already has an Availity Essentials account, you do not have to register again to start utilizing services that are currently available for Mercy Care and Mercy Care Advantage providers.

Tips:

Before you start, gather this information about your organization:

• Physical and billing addresses
• Tax ID (EIN or SSN)
• NPI (if you have one)
• Primary specialty/taxonomy
• Check or EFT information from a health plan that you submit to (recommended)

Note that:

• If your organization already has an account, ask the administrator to add you as a user.
• You only need one registration per organization. Each user does not have to register for a separate Availity account. Adding a duplicate account request will delay the registration approval process.
• The person who registers for the Essentials account will become the primary administrator for the organization, typically an office manager. This person will grant and maintain access to Essentials for your entire organization. If that is not you, please forward this information to the right person. 

1. Click Register and complete the steps in the registration wizard.     

   Tip: Prior to initiating your registration application, we recommend you refer to the demo and quick guides located on this helpful registration landing page for registration guidance or tips.
   

2. After you complete your registration, Availity will send you emails that include your next steps and temporary password. You may then begin adding other users for your organization.

3. Refer to the Adding Users help topic on Availity Essentials to learn how your Availity administrators can add users, either one at a time, or with a spreadsheet.

Note: To view or print this help topic, you must be registered with Availity Essentials.

Who do I contact if I need help registering for Availity Essentials?
If you’ve already started the registration process and require assistance, call Availity Client Services at 1-800-AVAILITY (282-4548). Assistance is available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern time (excluding holidays).

To make the transition easy, Mercy Care and Mercy Care Advantage and Availity have teamed up to offer a variety of training and informational sessions via the Availity Learning Center (ALC) and the Learn about Availity page.

The crosswalk from Aetna Medicaid/Mercy Care/Mercy Care Advantage to Availity Essentials help topic displays in an easy-to-read table format to help you quickly locate the services and features you need to access.
Note: You must be registered with Essentials to view or print any Essentials help topics.

1. Log in to Availity Essentials.
2. Click Help & Training > Find Help > Payer Spaces and payer tools > Aetna Medicaid > Crosswalk from Aetna Medicaid to Availity Portal.