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UHC makes additional changes to Optum Pay Basic and Premium service  

June 07, 2021


While UnitedHealthcare recently announced that its Optum Pay Basic service would restore access to claim payment and reconciliation activities for an unlimited number of users beginning May 22, 2021, Optum Pay continues to address outstanding issues raised by the California Medical Association (CMA) and other state and specialty societies with the rollout of the Optum Pay Premium service.  

In recent discussions with UnitedHealthcare, CMA learned that providers who remained with Optum Pay Premium because they needed more than two user accounts can still cancel their premium access and avoid paying additional fees. 

The monthly premium access costs providers 0.5% of the total payment amount or $5 for every $1,000 in payments. Optum Pay is currently invoicing providers for Optum Pay Premium, but they will waive the associated fees for providers that wish to switch back to Optum Pay Basic after they receive the invoice.   

Providers wishing to cancel their premium access can do either of the following: 

  1. Fill out the cancellation form on the website and email the completed form to optumpay_cancel@optum.com. It may take up to 5–7 business days for the change to show up on the portal. Cancellations are effective on the date the form is received by Optum Pay.  
  2. Use the self-service function in the Optum Pay Solutions tab and use the Cancel My Plan function. This step is immediate and will change users immediately from premium to basic access.   

Optum Pay has advised that if a practice moves from premium to basic after one ore more months of invoices were generated, they may continue to be seen on the invoices tab until Q3 2021. Optum is unable to remove the invoices. However, if the practice remains in basic, no action is required, and the practice will not owe the invoice balance for their time as a previous Optum Pay premium user. Please note: According to UnitedHealthcare, if a provider switches from premium to basic and then back to premium, the provider may be required to pay any outstanding or accrued premium fees.  

For more information, providers can contact the Optum Pay Help Center at (877) 620-6194 or email optumpay@optum.com,  

Additionally, for providers who choose to stay with the premium service, Optum Pay has incorporated changes to the fee structure and will only invoice fees that exceed $10 per month and will cap fees at $2,000 per billing cycle per tax ID number (TIN).  Previously Optum Pay placed no limit on the fees charged.  

Additional information on Optum Pay can be found on the Optum Pay website or the UHC website

 

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