“…UnitedHealthcare and Optum are both part of UnitedHealth Group. Humana got involved through old-fashioned networking, according to Mike Jacobs, a senior distinguished engineer at Optum, who has been working on the test program for two years.”
“The pilot will start in late spring through the summer with results expected this fall.”
“I think the alliance is one of the first, if not the first, national blockchain alliances for healthcare,” Jacobs said.
“The program will apply blockchain technology to improve the quality of data and reduce the administrative costs associated with insurers getting up-to-date healthcare provider demographic data.”
“Insurers are mandated to get accurate information that is passed on to beneficiaries. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services fines insurers if they do not have up-to-date provider directories.”
“Currently, each payer must go after the same provider information separately. One problem is that providers are often inundated with similar requests from dozens of plans.”
“It takes quite a lot of time and money for insurers to reach out to…” Read the full article here.
Source: Optum, UnitedHealthcare, Humana, others launch blockchain pilot – By Susan Morse, April 2, 2018. Healthcare IT News.
