UnitedHealthcare cutting 20% of prior authorizations

UnitedHealthcare is moving forward with a plan to eliminate 20 percent of its current prior authorizations and implement a national gold-card program.

Code reductions will begin this summer and continue through the rest of the year for most commercial, Medicare Advantage and Medicaid plans, according to a March 29 UnitedHealthcare news release.

The national gold-card program will be implemented in early 2024, according to the release. The program will apply to most UnitedHealthcare members across commercial Medicare Advantage and Medicaid plans. Qualifying provider groups will follow a simple notification process for most procedure codes rather than the prior authorization process.

Source: https://www.beckerspayer.com/payer/unitedhealthcare-cutting-20-of-prior-authorizations.html