The UPD, which went national in 2003, protects physicians from having to repeatedly fill out paper-based physician credentialing applications, and, judging from UPD user rates, the tool has caught on with U.S. physicians. According to
CAQH statistics, 55 percent of practicing U.S. physicians now use the UPD. That's 445,838 physicians out of the 809,139 physicians who are registered with the Federation of State Medical Boards.
In addition, said Davis, those numbers may be artificially low because some states and large physician groups use alternative approaches to data collection.
Rhode Island physicians head the list of state users with a 99 percent UPD registration rate. Other states at the top include Tennessee and Kentucky (88 percent each), Vermont (87 percent), and Delaware (86 percent). Hawaii anchors the bottom of the chart with just 2 percent of its physicians enrolled.
The AAFP supported CAQH's endeavor early on, and, in 2004, it was the first physician organization to endorse the UPD. Recently, the Academy reiterated its support in a letter to CAQH Executive Director Robin Thomashauer.
"The significant reduction in paperwork associated with the UPD is alleviating a significant source of dissatisfaction and cost among the participating physician practices," wrote AAFP Board Chair Ted Epperly, M.D., of Boise, Idaho. "The streamlining of this previously onerous task is a major reason for the widespread adoption of UPD by physician practices and other health care professionals throughout the nation."
Epperly noted that the Web-based UPD system "saves time and paperwork hassles and gives physicians more time to concentrate on what's most important -- their patients."
Beth Plummer, the credentialing coordinator at College Park Family Care Center in Overland Park, Kan., handles credentialing applications for 50-60 physicians. The work involved eats up about 60 percent of her day, but she said the UPD saves the practice dollars in terms of staff hours.
According to Plummer, it takes as long as 45 minutes to complete a paper credentialing application for a staff physician. She can complete the same work in less than 10 minutes using the UPD tool.
"CAQH has made credentialing smoother by creating some uniformity to the credentialing process," said Plummer. "The UPD is a huge time saver; I wish all insurance companies used it."
According to Davis, the UPD is free to physicians because participating organizations pay a fee for access. However, physicians own and manage their credentialing data.
Davis said 13 states designate or require that payers use the UPD to streamline provider data collection. The Medical Group Management Association estimates that the UPD has saved more than $80 million a year and eliminated more than 2 million paper credentialing applications since its inception.
Physicians must be registered with one of the more than 550 participating organizations before they can enroll in the UPD system, said Davis. If the insurers with which a physician has contracts haven't signed on as UPD users, the physician should call and ask why not, said Davis.
