Availity Essentials: Making it Easy

Our partnership with Availity is all about making it easier for providers to self service. Discover how the Essentials portal can streamline your workflows and make patient care easier.

  • It’s easy. To register for Essentials, choose an administrator to activate your account and then follow the process outlined on availity.com/azblue. Once your account is set up, your administrator can create user accounts for your staff.

  • Here’s what we like about Essentials:

    • Real-time access to multiple payers – You’ll be able to save time by working with AZ Blue and other payers on the same platform.
    • User-friendly experience – Many of the workflows integrate with each other, making it easy and efficient to navigate to the next step in your process.
    • Best practice capabilities – Provider feedback, industry-standard technology, and extensive research help Availity’s platform stay reliable and on the cutting edge.
    • Comprehensive user support – You’ll find “help topic” info buttons throughout the portal that you can click for quick support. On-demand demos walk you through the “how to” right when you need it. Availity offers free webinars and you can message or call the Availity support team with portal questions.

  • AZ Blue is currently set up on Essentials with the following features:

    • Eligibility and benefits inquiry
    • Claim submission (professional, facility, dental)
    • Claim status
    • EFT enrollment/changes
    • AZ Blue “payer space” for links to additional AZ Blue resources
    • Coming soon: Remits
  • Yes. Resources are still available on the AZ Blue provider portal. Eventually, we will remove functions that are fully implemented on Essentials, starting with EFT enrollment/changes as of June 1, 2024. Our Availity “Payer Space” makes it quick and easy to access AZ Blue tools and content from within the Essentials workspace.
  • Yes. Up next is remits. Other features in the pipeline include fee schedules, prior authorization, claim attachments, claim corrections, and claim appeals. We will also continue to enhance previously implemented functionalities.

  • Availity makes it easy to navigate, search, and access “how to” information right from the portal homepage. You’ll see strategically placed “help topic” buttons that guide your experience.

    Look for free webinars and on-demand training resources via the Help & Training dropdown menu in the dark gray menu bar:

      

    Availity posts a recorded demo in each feature to demonstrate how things work. You’ll find the demo links near the top of the page, as shown here in the Eligibility & Benefits screen:

      

    You can also message or call the Availity customer service team with questions about Essentials.

  • Most plans are supported through Essentials, including:

    • Employer group plans (with various AZ Blue prefixes).
    • Federal Employee Program® (FEP®) plans (prefix R) – Except for member ID cards and benefit books (see FEP Plan Brochures).
    • BlueCard out-of-area plans (with various prefixes from other Blue Plans) – Does not include member ID cards and benefit books. For claim status, you must use the “HIPAA Standard” search tab.
    • Medicare Advantage PPO plans (prefix M3P).
    • Medicare Advantage HMO plans administered by AZ Blue (prefix M2K) – Plans administered by Arizona Priority Care (AZPC) and OptumCare Arizona are only supported only through Essentials eligibility and benefits inquiries. For other functions, use the other administrators’ websites.
    • Medicare Supplement plans (prefix XBS).
    • Individual/family plans (with prefixes EPI, FLH, FQL, IPO, NNG, and NNJ) – One exception is the “ACA Standard Health with Health Choice” plan (prefix IAZ), which is administered by our ACA Health Choice team at standardhealthhc.com.

    Certain plans are only partially supported through Essentials: Click here for details.

  • If you have questions about how to register for the Essentials portal, please review the Availity Essentials Registration Training site. If you have other questions or need more help, call Availity Client Services at 1-800-AVAILITY (282-4548). Assistance is available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time (excluding holidays).

Availity is a separate, independent company contracted with AZ Blue to provide website portal services for the providers who care for our members. Availity and Availity Essentials are registered trademarks of Availity, LLC.
OptumCare Network of Arizona (“OptumCare Arizona”) is a separate, wholly owned subsidiary of Optum and is contracted with AZ Blue to provide utilization management and claim/payment processing services for providers and attributed members in Maricopa and Pinal counties with AZ Blue Medicare Advantage HMO plans.
Arizona Priority Care is a separate, independent company contracted with AZ Blue to provide utilization management and claim/payment processing services for providers and attributed members in Maricopa and Pinal counties with AZ Blue Medicare Advantage HMO plans.
Blue Cross, Blue Shield, the Cross and Shield Symbols, Federal Employee Program, and FEP are registered service marks of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, an association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans.