NEWARK, NJ – The Medicaid subsidiary of New Jersey’s largest healthcare insurer, Horizon Healthcare Services, is rolling out a new provider communications portal aimed at making communications between physicians and insurer easier and more efficient.
Horizon and its network physicians expect the new offering, developed by Boston-based NaviNet, will yield not only better communication, but also administrative efficiencies in physicians’ offices. That means cost savings all around.
“Using NaviNet will make interactions between Horizon and our network of healthcare professionals more effective and efficient so that they can focus their time and energy on providing quality care to our members,” said Karen Clark, vice president of Medicaid at Horizon.
Horizon’s Medicaid subsidiary will replace its provider portal with NaviNet, expanding the online transactions it offers at no cost to caregivers to include referral submission and inquiry in addition to eligibility and benefits and claim status inquiry.
The Medicaid subsidiary is New Jersey’s largest managed healthcare organization, providing services for more than 475,000 people in all 21 New Jersey counties.
NaviNet, which bills itself as the largest health information exchange network in New Jersey, works with 95 percent of commercially insured members in the state. Approximately 88 percent of physicians, clinicians and other healthcare professionals in New Jersey complete more than a million NaviNet transactions a month. As a result of NaviNet’s large footprint in New Jersey, now linking providers to 17 health plans, Horizon expects rapid adoption among its network of Medicaid providers.
"Our practice treats more than 100 patients every day and we strive to ensure that while here each patient receives high quality care and has a positive experience," said Melonie Maldonado, claims manager for Associates in Otolaryngology in West Orange, N.J. "Now, with access to Horizon through NaviNet, which we use every day to interact with most of the insurers that cover our patients, we have even more patient information at our fingertips.”
Maldonado said NaviNet’s approach to presenting patient data in real time enables the practice to streamline office workflows and reduce administrative costs.
"It’s been shown that electronic exchange of health information can reduce healthcare costs for providers, payers and patients alike,” said Brad Waugh, president and CEO of NaviNet. “With the addition of Horizon to the NaviNet Network, we’ve continued to expand what was already the largest health information exchange in the state."
Last year, NaviNet announced its participation in what it called a “landmark initiative,” sponsored by America’s Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, to document the benefits of electronic health information exchange between providers and health insurers. NaviNet was selected as the participating vendor in the initiative in New Jersey.
