Availity

A great way to check insurance benefits and claims services

Commenti: It is a delight to have this option rather than calling in and having to wait on hold for a quick question.

Aspetti positivi:

I am able to access Availity and find out the status of claims or check eligibility without having to go through the steps of calling in and waiting on hold. This saves so much time on a daily basis.

Aspetti negativi:

I can't look up a client by name and birth date without the insurance number. This can pose a problem if numbers were inverted. This is a small problem that is usually solved by bringing up the insurance card and double checking.

Availity Review

Commenti: I wish some of the other features, like submitting authorizations worked. It has not worked for us since it launched. As far as patients benefits and eligibility though just finding out the basics such as what a patient owes for their visit is a beeze.

Aspetti positivi:

I like the ease of verifying benefits for our patients. It's quick and easy. Easily accessible. Never really have to worry about the site being down like other websites.

Aspetti negativi:

I do not like how they generalize the authorization benefits. Many patients it lists that authorization is required, however, when we call the company specified, they will tell us no authorization is required. I wish it were more true to each specific plan and not just generalized. We waste a lot of time on the phone to find out that an authorization it truly not required. Also, their tracking of benefits, most of the time does not work. We have had patient use up all their allotted benefits, and the website will still show they have all their visits remaining, when they truly do not.

Availity is Awful

Commenti: Very poor. Very poor. Very poor. The sad part is the insurance companies make us use it particularly BCBS and they have no idea how horrible it is.

Aspetti positivi:

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Because there is always an issue with something.

Aspetti negativi:

Constantly down for certain insurance companies. Always an issue with our account. Customer service is...well there is none and in order to get any you have to complain. For example I opened a ticket for an issue and was met with a reply a few days later that due to high volume of tickets (meaning they have tons of issues) they couldn't help me. I replied letting them know that is terrible customer service and once I did that I got a reply the next day.

Super Helpful and a Great Time Saver!

Commenti: Availity is a super helpful tool that saves you from having to deal directly with patient's insurance companies. It's a big time saver!

Aspetti positivi:

Availity was used in my previous office to check medical insurance benefits for our patients. When I first started there my job was to call the insurance companies directly and check to see what fertility benefits the patients had. This was a complete nightmare and sometimes I would be on the phone for a couple of hours checking benefits for one patients...and sometimes I never got the info I needed. It was SO time consuming and frustrating. When Availity came along - it allowed me to check their benefits in a matter of seconds. A few insurance companies are not on Availity - so occasionally you still have to call.

Aspetti negativi:

Availity customer service do not seem to be very helpful when you need to call directly. I also somehow ended up calling a different department at Availity and could never get transferred top the area that I needed. I just stopped calling Availity. If I needed info and had to call - I just called the Insurance company directly instead.

A wonderful resource

Aspetti positivi:

I really appreciate Availity. Running a practice, it made life so much easier. Before we had to confirm client’s Insurance, worry about collections, remember to update insurance info with expiration dates and more when we used an older software. Availity cuts all of that out and allows you way more time to do other things instead of worry about every single detail about charging for sessions. Their customer service is also so great. We could contact them anytime and they would respond very quickly.

Aspetti negativi:

They’re slightly expensive and take it out of the payments made to you so if you aren’t taking in a lot of money, it may not be your best bet.

Could be Much Better, if they cared

Commenti: Just today, it tells me I have 1 business to verify and update the info for the quarter. But, the business is not listed. So, I try to add the business and its says I can't do it because its already listed. What the?1? This is a portal for many different insurances, which is great, in concept. But, each internal portal for the insurances operates a little differently. For example, one Blue Cross you search claims by group tax id. A different one forces you to search by individual provider NPI. And, don't get me started on Availity customer service. The rep with ALWAYS tell you they don't have an answer and it must be an issue with the insurance. It is never a problem with Availity. We are on the Availity platform, so they should help with the answer. So, what's the provider to do?

Aspetti positivi:

Free. Claims status. Secure email and chat.

Aspetti negativi:

customer service is very bad. I don't like it that each insurance can create its own rules. Availity should insist on consistency.

Good for Some things, not so good for important stuff

Commenti: Generally ok, it does about 1/2 of the things I need, really well, and the other 1/2 is practically impossible. I can easily locate a patient for a benefit check, but, instead of having a past claims identifier from the same place where I just found the patient, I have to start a brand new search that rarely finds the patient or the DOS I'm looking for. It simply doesn't locate the person, even though I just found them for the benefit check! Also, I would greatly appreciate a distinction between Regence, Premera, and BCBS billing procedures as all three are found through the Availity benefit portal, but they are not distinguished from each-other and that can cause confusion as to what insurance I should bill for chiropractic procedures.

Aspetti positivi:

Relatively easy benefit checks and good looking portal

Aspetti negativi:

locating detail of past claims is difficult at best, and non-existent most of the time

Verification is too easy

Commenti: We are doing medical billing work and with this portal we are able to check insurance benefits before to confirmation of patients appointment

Aspetti positivi:

Easy to use and user friendly interface

Aspetti negativi:

Need to add more plan under one umbrella

Useful platform for managing most insurance authorizations and payments.

Aspetti positivi:

It allows us to check many benefits in one system and is usually very fast without any lag or downtime.

Aspetti negativi:

LOTS of clicking to get anywhere. Sometimes the benefit information displayed is inaccurate or missing.

Availity and Me

Commenti: Over all Availity is a good tool that we will continue to use in our practice.

Aspetti positivi:

The option to search for EOB'S , eligibility and benefits.

Aspetti negativi:

The site, while fairly easy to navigate, doesn't provide clear benefits on everyone.

Nothing but a nightmare!

Commenti: SUPER DIFFICULT to get any useful information that you need regarding claims or claim status.

Aspetti positivi:

If the EOB shows up, it's fairly easy to use. IF!! being the operative word. Also entering a claim through Availity is fairly simple, but it'll do you little good because you won't be able to find it after

Aspetti negativi:

Ability to locate claims that you entered. Ability to verify patient's benefits

Availity is a HUGE disappointment

Commenti: My overall experience is that life was better before Availity. BCBS of TN and Humana had PERFECT websites, now I have issues all the time with Availity. I can't even get benefits for Aetna and Availity seems uninterested to help. Overall I absolutely wish Availity would disappear.

Aspetti positivi:

Nothing, there is no positive to Availity since we had to use them. Nothing at all.

Aspetti negativi:

Constantly having intermittent issues (system always down) and constantly changing platform. Most recently they made looking up benefits more difficult than before.

A necessity for medical offices

Commenti: Our medical practice depends heavily on Availity's website on a daily basis. It allows us to look up patients' insurance benefits through most insurance companies without having to call in, Electronic Remittance Advices are easy to look up, and we are able to keep insurance companies up-to-date with our practice and doctor information through their services. And best of all, it's free! We have used Availity for years, and plan to continue for many years to come.

Aspetti positivi:

This website allows a variety of necessary functions for any medical practice. It is easy to use, and very convenient.

Aspetti negativi:

Their customer service leaves much to be desired. And the CareCalc/Cost Estimator functions often go down.

Availity

Commenti: We love the ease of having all the Anthem claims information and eligibility in one place. It has helped save time for the users in the office while checking people in and out.

Aspetti positivi:

I like the ease of having eligibility and claim explanation of benefits all in one place. It is easy to use and to find things. It is a staple in our office. Easy to look up all the Anthem claims and EOB's for discussion on the phone with patients.

Aspetti negativi:

I do not like it when the system is down and we can not use it. It doesn't happen very often, but it does from time to time.

Great product

Commenti: Availity has good customer support. They come to your office if needed to provide onsite training.

Aspetti positivi:

This product is easy to use and has streamlined our process by allowing one resource for multiple insurance carriers. We are able to do claims status, eligibility, benefits, prior auths and many other duties.

Aspetti negativi:

I am not a huge fan of the screen changing for different insurance carriers. I would prefer the same format for all insurance carriers.

Easy to Use! Fast Results!

Commenti: Up to date Insurance eligibility answers.

Aspetti positivi:

We use this software to check insurance eligibility for our patients. Its quick! Has multiple search options to find your patient and the results are easy to understand.

Aspetti negativi:

If there is something that can be considered a con: It would be the verification of information on a quarterly basis. We are a home health agency and not an MD office so navigating through the verification questions are cumbersome.

I use it to check patient benefits and submit insurance claims.

Commenti: Patient benefits information and insurance billing.

Aspetti positivi:

It has drop down menus and check boxes that make it virtually impossible to submit the wrong information for insurance billing. It walks me through a claim step by step to allow me to do my chiropractic insurance billing. I also like that it shows me patient benefits with up to date co-pays and deductible information.

Aspetti negativi:

I wish it offered access to more insurance companies. It has the main ones that I use, but there are a few that don't allow me to check benefits and eligibility through Availity.

great software

Commenti: i love it! it is part of my everyday use while at work

Aspetti positivi:

i love how i can verify insurance and obtains authorizations on so many different insurances all in on place. it's nice how they have both out of net work and in net work benefits.

Aspetti negativi:

i don't like that not all different lines of medicaid and medicare are included, and missing local insurances.

Great product, great versatility

Commenti: Multiple insurance companies in one software. Makes it easy.

Aspetti positivi:

I like the layout of patient benefits and remittance advances. The design is very user friendly and efficient.

Aspetti negativi:

I do not like how much information you have to enter in order to pull up a patients info. It would be nice to be able to just enter name and DOB or ID Number.

Availity is good for getting basic coverage information but does not provide detailed information.

Commenti: Unfortunately with most insurance carriers either refusing to give benefit quotes or being automated response systems most physician's offices have no choice but to use Availity to look up basic patient coverage. Availity has a claims benefit and remittance viewing area but at least 80% of the time these system tools are unable to retrieve any claim information. At least the software is free to use.

Aspetti positivi:

Availity allows for physician's offices to look up patient benefits from multiple insurance carriers in using one online system.

Aspetti negativi:

The information Availity provides for each patient is mostly generic, for example you can retrieve basic copay amounts to collect but not specific coverage information.

Great way to get patient benefits!

Aspetti positivi:

Easy access to patient medical benefits to be able to give patient there out of pocket or copay due for surgery or consultations.

Aspetti negativi:

Having to have multiple things for identification.

Great for eligibility and claim status

Aspetti positivi:

Great software to check eligibility and claim status. The chat feature with payers is also a huge time saver

Aspetti negativi:

Not all payers have detailed eligibility status

Availity makes my job easier!

Commenti: My overall experience with Availity has been a good one. I do not have any complaints at this time.

Aspetti positivi:

I like being able to go online and look up information rather than having to make an actual phone call. My job requires me to answer the phone and check patients in and out. Availity helps make my job easier by allowing me to look up information on my time.

Aspetti negativi:

I have been fortunate in my experiences with Availity. I have not encountered anything that would cause me to dislike this software.

Hate that you have to subscribe for some features.

Commenti: Would like to just have to use name and DOB for all patients.

Aspetti positivi:

Easy to use to look up eligibility information on a patient for certain payers. The process is pretty streamlined.

Aspetti negativi:

You have to pay for a premium subscription and with some payers you have to have the member ID or you can't get eligibility information.

Too cumbersome and repetitive

Aspetti positivi:

I can submit claims electronically, which is a good thing.

Aspetti negativi:

This software is used for too many types of companies. When you submit a claim, you are asked to provide repeated information about the client throughout. It does not remember anything about the client from week to week, so each time a claim is entered an enormous amount of information is gathered again and again. The transition from one field to another is not smooth. They could do SO much better. Why don't they?