Stop Faxing and Mailing Authorization Letters!

Digital correspondence, specifically authorization-related materials, sent through traditional means are a pain point for providers and patients. At Availity’s annual Availity Connects conference last May, my colleagues and I participated in a Shark Tank-type event where we each pitched our best product innovation idea. I’m proud to say that my idea for a digital correspondence hub was the big winner. Attendees loved the idea of a centralized correspondence ecosystem supporting digitized versions of letters that are typically faxed or mailed.

At this year’s Availity Connects I was even prouder to launch our first payer-to-provider digital correspondence capability—Authorization Letters. Authorizations generate a huge volume of correspondence between health plans and providers. The good news? Tackling these letters can bring significant savings.

Digital Authorization Letters Can Help Reduce Administrative Cost and Provider Abrasion

Providers request a prior authorization, and a health plans sends an authorization determination letter with a decision or a request for more information. These letters tend to be long – about four to seven pages.

We piloted Authorization Letters with a health plan that focused on a subset of the letters they typically mail. The volume for just one month was 66,000! Factor in postage (currently $0.63 for First Class mail), printing, and labor costs, the savings can reach more than $1 million a year.

Cost savings alone makes Authorizations Letters worth the investment, but digitizing these letters will also help streamline the authorization process. Too often, providers and members are stuck waiting for the determination letter that may be lost in a hospital mailroom.

Simplified Delivery Through Availity Essentials

How does Authorization Letters digital delivery work? First, Availity establishes an API connection with the health plan. As letters become available, the health plan notifies Availity, and we make an API call to retrieve them and display them within Availity Essentials. When providers log in to the Authorizations Dashboard in Essentials, they see a notification that a letter is available and can then download the letter as a PDF. Because Availity can report when a document has been opened, health plans have visibility into its delivery.  

Learn More

If you are an existing Availity customer and want to learn more about Authorization Letters, contact your account manager. To learn more about our full suite of payer solutions, click here!