Reminder: Benefit Verification and Away From Home Care

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) member Identification (ID) cards are a useful tool for both providers and members as they are designed to easily identify a member’s type of coverage. As a reminder, Blue Cross NC strongly encourages providers to verify member benefits each time a member visits their office to ensure that they have the most current benefits on file for their patients. While Blue Cross NC recommends that a copy of the current ID card be requested at each visit, it is important to remember that some members are not issued a new ID card at the start of a new year. 

The quickest and most efficient way to determine eligibility and benefits is by using Blue e ℠. Providers should ensure that office staff are verifying benefits and eligibility at every patient visit, prior to rendering service. If you are not registered for Blue e, please visit the Blue e page to register.   

Also, beginning June 1, 2022, Blue Cross NC will no longer administer the Away from Home Care® program. Members will be terminated effective June 1st, however, there are some members on grandfathered policies, and they will remain on the policy until December 31, 2022.  Away from Home Care® is an out-of-area program for Blue HMO members. Blue Cross NC currently has minimal membership enrolled as guest members in North Carolina under the HMO product. A member could enroll as a guest member in another Blue HMO plan while residing temporarily outside of their home service area. The prefix for this product is YPO. A subscriber's card will have a Subscriber ID that begins with YPO followed by letters and numbers. For example: YPOW00000000.