ORANGE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CaliforniaChoice announced today the availability of an easy-to-use online provider directory to help consumers enrolled in the private health insurance exchange find and select a primary care physician or specialist who meets their needs.
CaliforniaChoice is one of the nation’s most successful small group private health insurance exchanges with participating health plans including Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross, Health Net, Kaiser Permanente, Sharp Health Plan and Western Health Advantage and offering access to 14 healthcare provider networks throughout California.
“The marketplace has made it clear that a reliable provider search tool is critical to establishing trust with and giving consumer’s confidence in their selection,” said Ron Goldstein, president and CEO of CHOICE Administrators, which operates CaliforniaChoice. “Our new online tool makes it easy for a consumer to find the doctor who best fits their needs.”
To access the provider directory, consumers visit www.calchoice.com and click on “provider search” in the top navigation. From there users can filter down available physicians based on targeted cities or zip codes, giving them access to all of the physicians included in the CaliforniaChoice exchange arranged by carrier. Consumers and health insurance brokers can quickly and easily see which primary care doctors or specialists are part of which plan design (HMO, PPO, EPO), who is participating in each “metal tier,” who is accepting new patients and other important information a member may be seeking.
“Health insurance exchanges are designed to provide choice and more value-based purchasing, but that only works if consumers have access to the online support tools necessary to make informed decisions,” said Goldstein. “This online provider directory is a perfect complement to our other online tools designed to help consumers compare health plans side by side to find the plan, benefit design and price point that is right for them and their families.”
As part of its ongoing commitment in this area, Goldstein said that later this year CaliforniaChoice intends to introduce an “Automated Choice Profiler” that will make it even easier for consumers to quickly and accurately identify the health plan and benefit design that best meets their needs. “As the industry and technology continues to evolve, it is essential that health insurance exchanges and carriers continue to make health plan selection easy and reliable for consumers,” he said.
As has been throughout its 18-year history as the nation’s pioneer in consumer-choice health insurance exchanges, CaliforniaChoice is offered exclusively through independent health insurance brokers. Goldstein calls these brokers “more valuable than ever in helping to provide the information and unbiased recommendations purchasers need to make well-informed decisions. The new online provider directory will serve as an additional tool that brokers can use to help their clients select the plan that best fits their needs. CaliforniaChoice also provides brokers with top-notch online quoting for instant comparison of multiple plans, benefits and prices.”
CaliforniaChoice currently serves more than 10,000 employers and 150,000 employees. It is a division of CHOICE Administrators, the nation’s leading developer and administrator of consumer-choice insurance exchange models. Further information is available at www.calchoice.com.
