BOSTON — January 13, 2015 — Committed to simplifying health care administration, the Mass Collaborative — an organization of more than 35 health plans, health care providers, and trade associations — has launched a new website MassCollaborative.org. The new site provides resources for streamlining health care processes and demonstrates progress made in Massachusetts to increase efficiency, eliminate waste, and promote industry standardization.

"Although just 10 percent of every health care premium dollar goes towards administrative spending, there is more progress to be made" said Deborah Devaux, Senior Vice President of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. "The Mass Collaborative is leading the charge to bring about greater administrative standardization and simplification to increase efficiency and enable physicians to dedicate more time to caring for our members."

"By voluntarily coming together to find innovative ways to reduce and simplify the administrative burden that's inherent in health care, the Collaborative has begun to take both cost and complexity out of the system and improve the overall end-to-end experience for health care providers, payers and patients" said Lynn Nicholas, President & CEO of the Massachusetts Hospital Association. "As both state and federal reform move our health care system forward, this sort of administrative simplification is plain common sense."

The new MassCollaborative.org website features timely news resources, access to standardized industry forms, and solutions that address key challenges related to: physician credentialing, insurance eligibility verification, claims appeals, prior-authorizations and payer-provider communications.

Progress To-Date Includes:

• Implementation of a first-in-the-nation standardized 'alpha search' feature that improves the accuracy of locating health care providers.
• Creation of the universal  Provider Request for Claim Review Form, which is used to submit a claim to a health plan or MassHealth for additional review. An accompanying reference guide provides valuable information on how to submit the form.
• Development of a streamlined process for health plan credentialing (www.hcasma.org).
• Creation of an email distribution list to improve how health plans communicate with credentialed providers.
• Establishment of standardized processes for application status inquiries and hospital roster update notifications.

"We have been working together to reduce the administrative burdens in our health system so that more time can be devoted to patient care and the overall patient experience," said Corinne Broderick, Executive Vice President of the Mass Medical Society. "The Collaborative has demonstrated its commitment to help ensure that the delivery of health care is effective, efficient and equitable, and we look forward to making a difference for everyone through continued cooperative efforts."

"Reducing unnecessary administrative costs is an important step towards improving the efficiency and quality of the health care system," said Lora Pellegrini, President and CEO of the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans. "As stakeholders that care about the health care system, the work of the Collaborative demonstrates that meaningful change can come from sitting around a table and engaging in conversations to develop solutions that address the concerns of the entire industry and not just a particular segment."

The Mass Collaborative is working to further create efficiency and simplification by:

• Identifying gaps in the electronic eligibility process and further increase efficiencies.
• Reducing the administrative burden on payers and providers by standardizing prior authorization forms for medical, lab and prescription services.
• Addressing new Massachusetts General Laws (Chapter 111 Section 228) requiring physicians and hospitals to provide cost information for procedures and services to patients.
• Creating a standardized patient-information form that can be used by health plans and physician practices to determine cost estimates for patients.

"Simplifying health care administration reduces cost, improves the patient and provider experience and enables all health care stakeholders to focus more on quality and effectiveness," said Denny Brennan, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium. "The Mass Collaborative is central to success in this multifaceted approach."

About the Mass Collaborative
The Mass Collaborative (www.masscollaborative.org) developed by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA), Massachusetts Association of Health Plans(MAHP), MassHealth, Massachusetts Health Data Consortium (MHDC), Massachusetts Hospital Association (MHA), and Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) serves as a leading voice of health care administrative simplification in Massachusetts. Its mission is to simplify and improve health care administration by increasing efficiency, eliminating waste, and promoting standardization.