In-Office Assessment Program

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield (Anthem) is proud to offer the 2020 Optum* In-Office Assessment (IOA) Program, formerly known as the Healthcare Quality Patient Assessment Form/Patient Assessment Form (HQPAF/PAF) program. The name change reflects significant advancements in technology over the past few years, evolving from a paper form-based program to a program that securely exchanges clinical information digitally through multiple digital modalities.

 

If you are interested in learning about the electronic modalities available, please contact your Optum representative or the Optum Provider Support Center at 1-877-751-9207 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday.

 

The IOA Program is designed to help participating providers ensure chronic conditions are addressed and documented to the highest level of specificity at least once per calendar year for all of our participating Medicare Advantage plan members. The IOA Program is designed to help overall patient quality of care (preventive medicine screening, chronic illness management and trifurcation of prescriptions for monitoring of high-risk medications and medication adherence) and care for older adults when generated for a Special Needs Plan (SNP) member.

 

Success stories

Below are some achievements Optum has accomplished with provider groups through the IOA Program:

• As a result of incorporating technology and/or different types of resources offered under the IOA Program, numerous provider offices demonstrated an increase in productivity, documentation and coding accuracy.
• Providers have taken advantage of the IOA Program resources to help alleviate some of the burden for their staff and office resources.

 

COVID-19 update

Anthem knows this is a difficult time for everyone. We will continue to adapt and evolve our practices to fully address the changing dynamics of these unprecedented events. Anthem is following the CDC guidelines on social distancing; thus, all nonessential IOA Program personal are to work telephonically/electronically with the provider groups until further notice.

 

Dates and tips to remember:

• Anthem strongly encourages participating providers to review their patient population as soon as possible. This will help get patients scheduled for an appointment if they have not already scheduled an in-office visit. This will also help the provider manage chronic conditions, which impact the health status of the patient.
• At the conclusion of each office visit with a patient, providers participating in the IOA Program are asked to complete and return an In-Office Assessment The form should be completed based on information regarding the patient’s health collected during the office visit. Participating providers may continue to use the 2020 version of the In-Office Assessment form for encounters that take place on or before December 31, 2020. Anthem will accept the 2020 version of the form for 2020 encounters until midnight January 31, 2021.
• Participating providers are required to submit an Account Setup Form, W9 and completed direct deposit enrollment by March 31, 2021. Participating providers should call 1-877-751-9207 if they have any questions regarding this requirement. Participating providers who fail to comply with this requirement will result in forfeiture of the provider payment for submitted 2020 In-Office Assessment forms if applicable.

 

If you have any questions regarding the IOA Program, please call Optum at 1-877-751-9207, Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. ET.

 

* Optum is an independent company providing medical chart review services on behalf of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

509687MUPENMUB