Availity Named Single-Source Technology Partner for California’s Centralized Provider Directory
Jacksonville, FL — July 27, 2022 —Availity, the nation’s largest real-time health information network, announced today that it will serve as the single-source technology partner for the Symphony Provider Directory, California’s provider directory utility.
Launched in 2019 by the non-profit organization Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA), Symphony is a centralized, cloud-based platform that streamlines how health plans and providers share, reconcile, and validate provider data in California. Symphony is the result of collaboration among stakeholders across the healthcare industry, including plans, providers, purchasers, regulators and others to address the regulatory requirements presented with Senate Bill 137.
“Symphony is the central repository for provider data among California’s largest healthcare entities,” said Jeff Rideout, MD, MA, FACP, President and CEO of IHA. “Leveraging Availity’s depth of expertise and ability to scale will help expand our reach to all California-based providers, efficiently onboard health plans and provider organizations, and deliver value that ultimately benefits patients.”
More than 100 provider organizations and 18 health plans and purchasers participate in Symphony today. The selection of Availity as its technology partner will enable IHA to onboard health plans and provider organizations to Symphony with greater scale and efficiency, while delivering an intuitive solution for capturing, validating, correcting, and sharing provider directory information.
The Power of Multi-Payer for Provider Data Management
Inaccurate or outdated provider directories can make it hard for patients to find the right doctor or may result in unexpected medical costs for out-of-network care. Additionally, inaccurate data makes payer-provider collaboration more difficult and increases compliance risks with legislation like the federal No Surprises Act and California’s SB 137, which outlines requirements for publishing and maintaining accurate provider directory information based on uniform data standards.
Availity Provider Data Management (PDM), a web-based tool designed for provider information, leverages automation tools that generate directory forms pre-populated with essential provider data elements, including office locations and hours, specialties, certifications, affiliations, accessibility, languages spoken, and more.
Providers just need to verify, correct, or submit their information. Availity automatically sends updates to health plans in their preferred format and structure.
Unlike the multiple interfaces and disparate workflows associated with legacy information management systems, Availity PDM enables a single point of entry that supports multiple provider workflows.
It also empowers health plans to communicate real-time information—specific to the payer—to their provider networks without multichannel communication, such as phone calls, faxes, and e-mails.
Provider Data Management Made Easy
According to a white paper published by IHA assessing Symphony’s inaugural year, the typical health plan can have thousands of provider records with conflicting data elements. Reconciling and maintaining these records to address conflicting data elements costs health plans and providers $2.1 billion every year, the white paper notes.
Understanding and cataloging these data conflicts enables Symphony to support organizations in making targeted and impactful improvements while reducing their time spent reconciling and maintaining provider data.
With Availity technology available in Symphony, providers, regardless of their organization’s size and complexity, can validate and share their information without needing to invest in new information management solutions to meet directory requirements.
“The synergy between Availity and Symphony lies in empowering health plans and providers to exchange information more efficiently, with more accountability, automated within established business rules and workflows,” said Russ Thomas, CEO of Availity. “IHA’s unique ability to convene health plans and providers and Availity’s expertise in real-time information exchange ensures that this important initiative will deliver great value as it expands across California.”
Availity PDM is part of Availity Essentials, the company’s flagship multi-payer portal that simplifies the exchange of administrative, clinical, and financial data between health plans and providers. Learn more about Availity PDM and Availity Essentials for providers and health plans.
