It’s time! The AZ Blue provider portal is closing soon. Please make sure your organization is registered for the Availity Essentials™ portal (availity.com/azblue). That way, your teams can all get user accounts and take advantage of our new self-service portal for:
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Quick 24/7 eligibility/benefits checks (includes ID cards and benefit books for AZ Blue members)
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Time-saving claim status shortcuts
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More detail on pended and denied claims
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Comprehensive remit viewer
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Convenient access to the Provider Operating Guide, claim pricing/coding resources, and more
For help with registration or user accounts, please contact the Availity Client Service team at 800-282-4548. For more information about our portal transition, see our provider FAQs.
2026 updates and reminders
Antibiotic stewardship: With flu season in high gear, please continue to uphold the antibiotic stewardship principles that will keep your patients safe from antimicrobial resistance. Patients may need helpful reminders about how to minimize discomfort (without antibiotics) as viral flu symptoms run their course.
Incident-to billing requirements: To align more closely with new CMS guidelines, we have updated our recently revised Provider Operating Guide language about this supervisory requirement:
Once the patient has been transitioned to an associate or technician to carry out the treatment plan, the supervising provider must be readily available (physically or via real-time audio/visual) to step in and provide guidance at any point in the treatment.
Please note: In keeping with CMS guidelines, audio-only supervision is not acceptable. See revised policy.
2026 prefix list: When entering a member ID to check eligibility, claims, or prior authorization, be sure to use the correct prefix for the date of service. If you get an error message, you can access the updated prefix list or prefix replacement list to see if the prefix has been replaced. For more information about prefix replacements, visit azblue.com/prefix.
90-day window for standard timely filing: For claims with service dates on or after January 1, 2026, our standard timely filing time frame will be 90 days from the date of service.
Code edit and claim pricing updates:
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Procedure code H0004 (Behavioral Health Counseling and Treatment per 15 min): Effective for commercial and FEP claims with service dates on or after January 1, the limit for a single date of service will change from 50 units to 32 units.
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Included Services: Effective for dates of service on or after February 1, 2026, several codes will be added to the Included Services Code List. See the list of codes to be added.
2026 benefit plan and network news:
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Individual/Family plans will be supported by the new Focus Network, the Neighborhood Network, and the ACA Health Choice Network (MaricopaFocus and PimaFocus networks have been discontinued): Overview of 2026 ACA plans
Availity is a separate, independent company contracted with AZ Blue for provider portal services. Availity is a registered service mark and Availity Essentials is a service mark of Availity, LLC.
Blue Cross, Blue Shield, the Cross and Shield Symbols, Federal Employee Program, and FEP are registered service marks of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, an association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans.
