Pinnacol officially transitioned to our new bill payment vendor, Optum Financial, and our two new clearinghouses, Carisk and Data Dimensions, on Monday, Jan. 1. This means all bills received on Jan. 1, 2024 and after are paid through Optum Financial. It also means that Pinnacol can accept electronic medical records.
It is important to clarify that Optum Financial, formerly VPay, is not the same as Optum Pay, which Pinnacol used for many years for electronic provider payments.
There are many benefits for providers with Pinnacol partnering with Optum Financial, Carisk and Data Dimensions:
1. Checks and explanations of remittances (EORs) will be sent together through Optum Financial.
2. Medical records can be submitted electronically.
3. Pinnacol has two clearinghouses: Carisk and Data Dimensions.
a. You are not required to switch clearinghouses. You may continue to submit bills through your existing clearinghouse, which will be sent to Carisk or Data Dimensions.
b. If you are not sending bills electronically, please consider signing up with Carisk. They can receive non-standard bill forms, create electronic bills, and submit them electronically to Pinnacol for you. See the attached FAQs to learn how to sign up with Carisk.
4. You will be able to select your preferred payment method with Optum Financial. Options include:
a. ACH
b. Check
c. Virtual card (subject to credit card processing fees; to avoid additional fees, please request ACH as your payment method)
Minor changes were made to Pinnacol’s provider portal due to the transition to Optum Financial. These changes include:
- All references to EFT, check, or bill number have been updated to “Bill ID.”
- Users can no longer add a Tax ID to their user profile using an EFT or check number. Instead, only bill IDs are accepted.
- The bill search function allows users to search using the 20-character bill ID for bills processed by Optum Financial.
- The bill search function continues to allow users to search using an 8-digit Pinnacol legacy bill number for bills processed by Pinnacol before the transition to Optum Financial.
Bills submitted in December 2023 may be processed through Optum Pay (our legacy payment vendor). This means providers may receive payments from Optum Financial and Optum Pay for a brief period.
No action is required. If your clinic would like to submit electronic medical records, please check with your clearinghouse to confirm they have this capability and to learn how to get set up.
Please review the frequently asked questions. This document explains how payments will be made, how to change your preferred payment method, how EORs will be sent, how to change clearinghouses if needed, and much more.