Utah: Prior authorization and clinical letters will no longer be mailed
Updated: April 16, 2021
We are postponing the May 1, 2021 transition to digital-only access of medical prior authorization, concurrent review and other clinical letters for in-network health care professionals and facilities in Utah. These letters will continue to be mailed to you. We will let you know of a new effective date as soon as possible.
Effective May 1, 2021, we will no longer print and mail paper medical prior authorization and clinical letters to in-network health care professionals and facilities in Utah. This applies to most* UnitedHealthcare plans in the state. Instead, we’ll inform health care professionals and facilities by email, letters available for viewing in Document Vault, our secure online repository of UnitedHealthcare reports and claim-related communication.
Here’s what you can do to get ready for this change:
1. Share this information with others in your organization who need to know that prior authorization and clinical letters will not be mailed after May 1, 2021
2. Use this checklist to make sure you and your organization are ready to receive UnitedHealthcare emails and view prior authorization and clinical letters — and many other types of communications — through Document Vault
3. Review the Going Paperless Made Simple Guide to learn more about Document Vault and how to use it — including how to use the search feature to find a specific letter
4. Check out the Prior Auth folder in Document Vault. When you sign in to the UnitedHealthcare Provider Portal and go to Document Vault, you’ll see there are several folders, each with different types of information
- Look for the folder labeled Prior Auth Letters
- Letters in this folder cover pre-service/prior authorization reviews as well as inpatient concurrent and retrospective reviews, including length of stay and level of care determinations
- Letters are categorized by type of plan (Medicare, commercial or Medicaid) and then grouped into 3 subfolders — Approved, Denied or Lack of Information
- A Miscellaneous folder may display if a letter can’t be categorized into one of these folders
- You can search the Prior Auth Letters folder by Notification ID, Member ID, Member Name and other parameters
5. Explore the Prior Authorization and Notification tool. You can manage all your prior authorization needs through this online tool. No need to call UnitedHealthcare to submit a request or check status. And, you can move directly from the Prior Authorization tool to Document Vault to view your letters.
Why we’re making this change
This change is part of our efforts to transition paper transactions to electronic whenever possible. Digital transactions get information to you faster and reduce the amount of paper health care professionals must manage.
Real-time data sharing and automation available
Our Application Programming Interface (API) solutions allow your organization to automatically retrieve detailed electronic data for member eligibility, benefits, claims and letters.
- Our technical teams work with yours to set up API and determine the appropriate format for receiving the data, including directly in to your practice management systems.
- Learn more about how APIs can streamline your workflow and reduce the need for call and paper.