UC San Diego Well being Spotlights SMART Well being Insurance coverage Playing cards

Highlights

– First demonstration of latest QR code commonplace for medical insurance playing cards.

– New mannequin will permit suppliers to scan QR code, confirm its authenticity and ingest the information into their techniques routinely.

– Collaborating companions embrace UC San Diego Well being, UC Irvine Well being, UCLA Well being, UCSF Well being, UC Davis Well being, UCR Well being, Evernorth Well being Companies, Healthcare Monetary Administration Affiliation, The Commons Mission, VCI Coalition and CARIN Alliance.

Throughout a digital well being symposium this week, Christopher Longhurst, MD, with UC San Diego Well being, pulled up a QR code from his telephone’s digital pockets, scanned it at a check-in kiosk and immediately displayed how his medical insurance coverage info was retrieved and verified in actual time, together with copay quantities.

The UC San Diego Well being digital well being symposium was the primary demonstration of the SMART well being QR codes for medical insurance playing cards initiative — a brand new mannequin for digitally standardizing and modernizing medical insurance playing cards, streamlining affected person check-ins and decreasing billing errors. UC San Diego Well being is the primary well being system within the nation to pilot this progressive new method.

“There are greater than 1,000 medical insurance firms in the US, every with their very own insurance coverage card format,” mentioned Longhurst, chief medical officer and chief digital officer at UC San Diego Well being. “It takes weeks to coach new employees members to decipher all these completely different card codecs, and there are sometimes typos, which might result in rejected insurance coverage claims. Having a typical QR code format to scan will streamline the method, cut back errors and simplify insurance coverage documentation for our sufferers and employees.”

Though many well being plans have lately launched their very own digital member identification playing cards, there has not been a typical commonplace that allowed suppliers to simply scan or ingest that info — till now.

The brand new SMART Well being Insurance coverage Card relies on the SMART Health Card QR code commonplace that was adopted for verifiable vaccination information in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic by many of the U.S. well being care and expertise ecosystems, together with: most U.S. states, nationwide pharmacy chains, well being suppliers and insurers and cell and expertise platforms.

The SMART Well being Insurance coverage Card initiative was launched by The Commons Mission, in collaboration with the CARIN Alliance and the VCI coalition of private and non-private associate organizations that developed the SMART Well being Card commonplace.

The brand new SMART Well being Insurance coverage Card initiative garnered assist from the Healthcare Monetary Administration Affiliation (HFMA) in April, a nonpartisan skilled follow group that represents 100,000 well being care monetary administration professionals nationwide.

“We urge our well being care system colleagues, payer companions and digital well being file follow administration system distributors to actively take part within the SMART Well being Insurance coverage Playing cards initiative and embrace the SMART Well being Card commonplace for medical insurance playing cards,” mentioned Richard L. Gundling, senior vice chairman, skilled follow at HFMA. “We imagine that adopting this commonplace will improve the effectivity and effectiveness of well being care companies, and thereby profit sufferers and suppliers alike.”

The UC San Diego Well being symposium, the place the demonstration occurred, is going on on the Qualcomm Institute and is honoring Irwin and Joan Jacobs for his or her beneficiant assist of $22 million in presents to broaden UC San Diego Well being’s Middle for Well being Innovation.

Distinguished thought leaders from academia and trade are sharing concepts and key initiatives about improvements in well being care by means of AI and machine studying, cell well being knowledge pushed service fashions and moral and safe practices in digital well being, together with the launch of the SMART Well being Insurance coverage Card.

“UC San Diego Well being is located as a key choice maker in well being care supply, and SMART Well being Insurance coverage Playing cards are an important alternative for us to showcase our innovation skillset, mindset and management for bettering the well being care ecosystem,” mentioned Joshua Glandorf, chief info officer for UC San Diego Well being. “There’s a robust alignment with these new SMART insurance coverage playing cards and the way we’re aiming to advance well being care within the digital house as an entire.”

“That is an thrilling step ahead in our work to make well being care less complicated for these we serve,” mentioned Glen Stettin, MD, chief innovation officer for Evernorth Well being Companies. “SMART insurance coverage playing cards have the potential to assist sufferers get quicker entry to wanted care, and assist docs get reimbursed extra effectively. Any group interested by eradicating friction in well being care ought to contemplate them.”

Following at present’s demonstration, UC San Diego Well being, UC Irvine Well being, UCLA Well being, UCSF Well being, UCR Well being and UC Davis Well being will conduct additional pilots of the mannequin.

HFMA can also be forming a working group of enormous well being techniques nationwide to collaborate with their payer and digital well being file vendor companions to pilot the mannequin in coming months. After the pilots, the contributors will assess the outcomes and try for the widespread implementation of the usual and the mannequin in the course of the upcoming profit 12 months beginning in January 2024.