On Sept. 1, UnitedHealthcare will begin a two-phased approach to eliminate prior authorization requirements for several procedure codes.
The code removals will account for almost 20 percent of its overall prior authorization volume, according to an Aug. 1 press release.
On Sept. 1 and Nov. 1, codes will be eliminated for UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage, UnitedHealthcare commercial, UnitedHealthcare Oxford and UnitedHealthcare Individual Exchange plans.
On Nov. 1, codes will be eliminated for the UnitedHealthcare Community Plan as well.
UHC is making the change in an "effort to simplify the healthcare experience for our members and network health care professionals," according to the release.
This announcement comes after UHC has been under fire since March for potentially adding more prior authorization requirements for GI care.
Here is a list of the codes that will be removed from prior authorization requirements:
UnitedHealthcare commercial plans
UnitedHealthcare Individual Exchange plans
UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans
UnitedHealthcare Community plans