Change To Some Primary And Secondary Claims Coordination

Sep. 21, 2021

As of Dec 13, 2021, when a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana (BCBSMT) member has primary and secondary health insurance coverage from two BCBSMT plans or BCBSMT and one of the following four plans listed below, we will be making changes to increase efficiencies in coordinating these claims for our providers.

  • Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois
  • Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma
  • Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico
  • Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas

These changes will decrease the time it takes to process and coordinate payment of these claims. This is for members with a BCBSMT health plan and another plan with BCBSMT or one of the plans listed above.

Note: The standard guideline for timely filing with Coordination of Benefits is as follows and will not be changing with the retirement of the ‘Blue on Blue’ process:

  • Primary claim timely filing begins at date of services rendered.
  • Secondary claim timely filing begins at date of primary claim final adjudication.

What’s changing for providers

In the new process you will:

  • First submit just the primary claim
  • You’ll receive the determination on the primary claim through your normal channels detailing the primary claim adjudication, then:
  • Submit the secondary claim with the primary claim payment information under the secondary policy following the guidelines documented in the Provider Manual Learn more about third-party links.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana, a Division of Health Care Service Corporation, a Mutual Legal Reserve Company, an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association