West Region: Medical provider remittance advice won’t be mailed after October

Last modified: September 29, 2021

Effective Nov. 12, 2021, for all UnitedHealthcare plans, we will no longer print and mail paper provider remittance advice (PRAs) for medical claims to network health care professionals and facilities in the following states:

• Alaska
• Arizona
• California
• Colorado
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Montana
• Nevada
• New Mexico
• Oregon
• Washington
• Wyoming

This change applies to most UnitedHealthcare plans in the region.* It does not affect Optum Pay™ subscribers with electronic funds transfer (EFT). If you receive an electronic remittance advice (ERA)/835 and a paper PRA, your paper PRA will no longer be mailed, but your ERA process remains unchanged.

Please share this information with others in your organization who need to know about this change. If you work with an outside vendor, such as a revenue cycle management company, for your mail processing, please discuss with them to determine how this change may affect your workflow with them.

Options to view PRAs electronically

There are several ways you can view PRAs electronically. Choose the one that works best for your practice or facility:

1. Document Library: This secure online repository of reports and claim-related communication is available through the UnitedHealthcare Provider Portal. PRAs are produced at the time of payment processing and available for you to access the next day in Document Library.
   
   Explore Document Library     
   
   
2. Optum Pay: Through our affiliation with Optum Pay, you can reconcile remittance data with basic portal or premium portal access.
   
   Basic portal access is free to those enrolled in ACH/direct deposit through Optum Pay. Premium portal access is a fee-based service that includes additional practice management features and data aggregation tools. (Premium portal access is available at no additional cost for those receiving virtual card payments from UnitedHealthcare.)
   
   Learn more
   
   
3. EDI: Set up Electronic Remittance Advice (ERA) 835 transactions using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) to receive your PRAs electronically. An additional benefit is the capability to autopost payments into your practice management or hospital information system. Contact your clearinghouse to start the process. Note: ERA/385 setup takes about 30 days from when we receive the request. 
   
   Check out EDI
   

Upcoming digital transitions

The move toward digital (paperless) delivery of reports and claim-related communication for network health care professionals will continue throughout 2021 and 2022. Announcements will be made on UHCprovider.com/news 90 days before mailings end so you have time to prepare.

Questions?

Please contact UnitedHealthcare Provider Services, toll-free, at 877-842-3210, TTY/RTT 711, 7 a.m.–5 p.m. CT, Monday–Friday.

*PRAs will continue to be mailed to: Behavioral Health; American Association of Retired Persons (AARP®) Medicare supplement products and All Savers Insurance, Sierra Health and Life; Rocky Mountain Health Plan; UHCWest; UnitedHealthOne; UMR; UnitedHealthcare Global; Student Resources; Home and Community Based Services; Optum VA Critical Care Network (CCN). 

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