- Before
- Could read a member the coinsurance, but not what she would actually owe, without three screens and a calculator.
- Now
- Reads out a cited answer with her own cost, prompts the doctor's office for approval and saves the summary — while she is still on the line.
One call, from the question to the call summary
Rosa Delgado, a Choice PPO 1500 member through her employer Haldane Logistics, calls at 10:44. Her orthopedist wants an MRI of her right knee. Here is the call, screen by screen, in the working solution.
- 0110:44
The question, in her words — and the answer already on screen
Jordan Ellis · Member service representativeRosa was verified at 0:41 by date of birth and address. Jordan types what she asked: “Is an MRI of my knee covered, and what will I pay?” The answer comes back in four sentences: covered when her doctor orders it, about $350 at Lakeshore Imaging Center, prior approval needed and not yet asked for, and Lakeshore is in her network.
“4 sentences · 4 supported by the plan”
- 024.6 seconds
Plan, cost, approval and network, checked in parallel
The agentsThe question reader turns “MRI of my knee” into CPT 73721, right knee, without contrast, outpatient, plan year 2026. The plan reader cites Evidence of Coverage 2026 §4.7 page 42 and §7.2 page 61 and the SBC page 2, and notes no group rider applies. The approval and network checker finds 73721 on the prior authorization list with no request on file from Northgate Orthopedics. The citation checker reads every sentence against its passage: 0 removed.
“Jordan decides — reads it out or sends it — nothing reaches Rosa until Jordan clicks”
- 03Her year so far
Her cost, not the plan's coinsurance
Cost estimatorClaims are processed through 12 Oct with none pending. Rosa has met $1,250 of her $1,500 in-network deductible — a February lab, urgent care in March, therapy in June and July. At Lakeshore's allowed amount of $750, she pays the $250 left on her deductible, then 20% of the remaining $500: $350. The plan pays $400. Her deductible is met for the year, and her out-of-pocket goes from $1,640 to $1,990 of $5,000.
$250 deductible left + 20% × $500 = $250 + $100 = $350
- 04Where she goes
The same MRI, three prices
Jordan Ellis · Member service representativeThree sites within 6 miles perform 73721. Riverbend Medical Center bills it as hospital outpatient, allowed at $2,180, so Rosa's share there is $636 under the same rule. Summit Open MRI, 2.2 miles away, is not in network: up to $1,600, with the plan paying nothing until the $3,000 out-of-network deductible is met. Jordan switches the site and the answer, the arithmetic and the citations follow.
“Estimate, not a guarantee of payment · the final amount depends on the claim the provider sends”
- 0510:46
Prior approval: prompt the office, decide nothing
Jordan Ellis · Member service representativeThe order came in on 8 Oct, but Northgate Orthopedics has not asked for approval. Jordan clicks “Prompt Dr. Okoye's office”. The prompt is already filled in — member, plan and group, CPT 73721, diagnosis M25.561, the in-network site, the rule and the 7-calendar-day decision clock — and goes to the office's provider portal inbox and by fax.
“The office submits the request; nothing is decided here.”
- 0610:47
The answer, texted with its plan pages
Jordan Ellis · Member service representativeRosa wants it in writing. The text reads the same as the answer: covered under §4.7, about $350 at Lakeshore, prior approval first, which Dr. Okoye's office requests and has now been told about, and a link that opens it in her member app with each line's plan passage. Consent to texts has been on file since 4 Jan 2026. The prior approval tile now reads “Requested from the office”.
- 07Any sentence
Every sentence opens the passage behind it
Jordan Ellis · Member service representativeEach numbered citation in the answer opens its source: Evidence of Coverage 2026 §4.7 Advanced imaging with the covered services and the 20% in-network coinsurance highlighted, the SBC, Rosa's accumulators, the contracted allowed amounts for 73721, the prior authorization list, the directory entry and §7.2 on prior authorization.
“this passage is what the answer says, word for word where quoted”
- 08Saved
The call summary, on her record
Call summary writerWhen Jordan clicks Save, the summary goes on Rosa's record with its citations: knee MRI covered under §4.7, about $350 at Lakeshore Imaging Center, prior approval required, office prompted 10:46, answer texted. Her record also shows the MRI 73721 prompt waiting for Northgate Orthopedics to submit, her claims this plan year and her earlier calls.
- 09Same morning
The answers that need a second look
Denise Okafor · Service team leadFour answers wait for Denise. Hannah Cole was told hearing aids are excluded under §6.3 — but group rider R-22 for Barrow County Schools covers $1,500 per ear every 36 months. A sleep study estimate was $28 under the paid claim after the fee schedule changed. A network answer rested on a directory entry 104 days old. A dental implant question went to a specialist because two passages disagreed. Denise accepts the corrections, coaches, and approves the new answer.
“Citation checker: the exclusion was cited, but the group's rider amending it was not.”
- 10Every week
How fast, and how close to the paid claim
Denise Okafor · Service team leadIn the Measures preview for a 400,000-member plan: 14,820 questions answered across phone, app and broker portal in 30 days, the median time to a cited answer down to the 38-second target, 94.6% of estimates within $25 of the member's share when the claim paid, and callbacks on the same question down from 11.4% to 6.1%. 318 offices were prompted for prior approval on the call.