CHOICE Launches New, User-Friendly Provider Search Function
Want to find a CHOICE FIDA Complete primary care physician in the Bronx who’s open evenings and speaks Czech? No problem!
VNSNY CHOICE Health Plans has launched anew online search function on its website that gives current and potential plan members instant access to a customized list of in-network health care professionals. The new, user-friendly tool lets visitors tailor their search for CHOICE doctors and nurse practitioners, enabling them to drill down by name, specialty, location, hospital affiliation and/or languages spoken. Searchers can also use similar criteria to call up lists of in-network hospitals, pharmacies and skilled nursing facilities, while another set of filters shows which providers are accepting new patients, make home visits, are wheelchair accessible, and see patients after five o’clock in the afternoon.
“The new online search tool provides a much better experience for our members and prospective members, by making it easier to find specific providers that meet their exact needs,” says Cindy Zanca, Director of Marketing for VNSNY CHOICE Health Plans. Someone seeking a primary care doctor in Manhattan who speaks a language other than English, for example, can choose from a list of physicians fluent in over 40 different languages, from Bengali and French to Urdu and Yiddish. “Besides offering a much more flexible search function for visitors, the new web portal makes it easy for us to modify the information as needed,” adds Cindy. “We’ll be refreshing it twice every week to make sure all provider lists and contact information are fully up to date.”
The CHOICE provider lookup function, which can be accessed through any of the main links on the CHOICE website home page, was developed in collaboration with VNSNY’s Provider Operations team with support from the IT Department. It has separate search functions for each CHOICE health plan, including CHOICE Medicare, CHOICE SelectHealth and CHOICE FIDA Complete. (A search function for CHOICE MLTC will be available in the near future.) The search tool also links to provider lists for the third-party dental, vision and behavioral health vendors serving CHOICE members, and visitors will soon be able to generate printable PDFs of their customized provider lists, as well.
“We’re very excited about this enhanced provider lookup function,” says Dr. Hany Abdelaal, President of VNSNY CHOICE. “It’s great for our members, and it will also deliver significant time and cost savings by reducing the need for our customer service representatives to assist members in locating in-network providers, and by making it easier for us to meet evolving regulatory requirements.”
