Insurers offer expansions to consumer-driven health care

UnitedHealth Group's "all-in-one" magnetic stripe identification card allows real-time benefits checks and claims adjudication. Meanwhile, WellPoint expands its HSA initiative to all members.

By Jonathan G. Bethely, amednews staff. Sept. 11, 2006.

UnitedHealth Group says it is making it easier for physicians to get paid more promptly by offering patients a new identification card.

Minneapolis-based United says the card will enable doctors to instantly verify patient eligibility, access online personal health records and debit financial accounts tied to consumer-driven health plans.

The magnetic stripe identification medical cards, which are scheduled to be available beginning next year to members in any of United's health plans, will provide confirmation of the patient's up-to-date benefits.

Also, through information tapped from United's banking service, Exante, the cards can be used to debit a patient's health savings or flexible spending account while the patient is still in the doctor's office, said Daryl Richard, a spokesman for Uniprise, United's consumer-driven care unit.

By the time the magnetic stripe identification cards are rolled out to consumers, the insurer also will have rolled out its real-time claims adjudication capability, Richard said.

Real-time claims adjudication, in which physicians can find out during the visit how much the insurer will cover, is being tested in Rhode Island. Humana introduced real-time claims adjudication earlier this year.

Some physicians say United's card is a step toward making it easier for payment to be collected at the point of service. But on the clinical side, physicians are skeptical about how United will protect patient privacy.

"We are supportive of it with some caution about protecting privacy and confidentiality," said Teresa Devine, director of health care finance for the Texas Medical Assn. "Anytime an insurer can make it easier for the patient to pay at the time of service, it's a good thing."

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