During the COVID-19 pandemic, convenience in our daily lives is more important than ever, whether grocery shopping, working from home, or scheduling appointments with a medical provider.
BlueCross has already eased access to telehealth capabilities, allowing members to see a doctor from the comfort of their own home. Now we’ve embraced another way to make our members’ lives easier.
As of April 30, we’ve made it possible for many members to pay Tennessee-based providers directly from their BlueAccess claims page on bcbst.com. This includes members who get coverage at work or have an Individual/Marketplace policy.
Convenience and security in one location
This new option makes it possible to pay your medical bills from within our site instead of keeping up with paper statements or using payment portals specific to individual providers. This can be frustrating if you’re making multiple monthly payments across multiple platforms that require multiple passwords.
During these challenging times, especially, lessening every bit of frustration helps.
“To take more things off our members’ plates, we’ve created a one-stop experience by giving them one place to manage all their provider payments, at no cost to them,” says Jack Khera, BlueCross director of digital experience. “We’ve all gone looking for a stamp at some point only to realize we’re out, or have struggled to remember a specific password when trying to settle a bill with a hospital or specialist.”
“Direct provider bill pay is yet another way we’re delivering the peace of mind we strive to provide our members every day.”
How it works
If you’re a BlueCross member with Bill Pay access, you can make payments using a credit card or debit card, or via electronic transfers from a checking, savings or health savings account.
If you receive an email that a claim has processed, follow these steps:
- Log into BlueAccess and click on your Claims page
- Select “Pay Provider” to see options for “Mark bill as paid” (if it was taken care of at the provider’s office), “View claim summary” or “View all payments.”
- Enters your payment information and select from the payment types available for the provider.
Currently, a provider may accept all or some of these payment types, and we’re working closely with our network provider partners to help them accept all forms of payment.
Our payment platform is set up through InstaMed, a secure third-party site that specializes in provider transactions and maintains all payment records and member payment types and preferences.
Why we made this change
We’re constantly listening to member and provider feedback to enhance our member experience. When looking at ways to simplify our claims process, we evaluated studies showing that:
- 86% of consumers want to pay all of their health care bills in one place
- 75% of consumers prefer to pay with an electronic payment method
- 53% of consumers prefer to pay medical bills through an online payment channel
“The wishes of our members are clear, and we’re here to help manage the process,” Jack says. “If members have questions or encounter any problems whatsoever, they should call the 800 number on the back of their member ID card, call InstaMed toll free at (866) 467-8263, or email their support team at support@instamed.com. We’re also here to support all of our network providers, as this program will help them get paid faster.”
Jesse joined the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee corporate communications team in 2017. A Chattanooga native, he has more than 15 years’ experience in content creation, management, and strategy for consumer audiences, including a six-year stint in health care marketing.