Doctors agree that online provider directories that list their name, credentials and office location are often erroneous. But even though physicians say they are frequently contacted for updates, how they send the information back for web-based provider directories is still more manual than digital.

A new survey of 700 physicians by the American Medical Association and LexisNexis finds 89% of doctors say it is important to be accurately represented in network directories. But more than half of U.S. physicians (52%) say they encounter patients every month with health insurance coverage issues due to inaccurate directories of in-network physicians.

The survey findings illustrate a need for physicians and health plans to work together to help eliminate potential barriers to care when patients rely on outdated, inaccurate or incomplete directory data to locate an in-network physician, says AMA Health Solutions senior vice president Laurie McGraw.

“Recognizing the importance to patients of high-quality directories, federal and state governments have created regulations requiring health plans to increase the frequency of physician data verification,” McGraw says. “As a consequence, some physician offices have experienced an increase in repetitious data verification requests from health plans that are mandated to constantly ensure the quality of network directories.”

The duplication and complexity of data collection has left some physicians inconvenienced by an administrative burden, the AMA says. Yet most physicians (79%) say they are unaware that health plans are responding to mandates that require regular data verification. In fact, about two-thirds of physicians (67%) would prefer a single interface that can simultaneously update directory information with multiple health plans.

When doctors or their offices do fulfill requests to update their information for a provider directory, the process is mostly still manual. About 38% of physicians still use the fax machine to send back updated directory information, the AMA says.

“Ensuring the accuracy of network directories needs to be a truly collaborative process for physicians and health plans,” McGraw says. “Physicians want patients to make informed healthcare choices, while health plans seek to comply with mandates to publish the most up-to-date network directories.”

Inaccurate online provider directories are a problem that’s attracting the attention and generating fines and letters of corrective action from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

A federal audit of network directories published by Medicare Advantage plans found that 52% of the provider locations listed had at least one inaccuracy. As a result, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued 23 notices of noncompliance and 31 warning letters this year to Medicare Advantage plans.

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