Expanding transparency across prior authorization and referrals for members
Throughout the healthcare system, many checkpoints exist to help ensure people receive the care they need and avoid preventable errors in diagnoses or treatment. These safeguards matter, but they can also leave members with questions: Where does my request stand? What's covered? What happens next?
UnitedHealthcare is working to answer those questions before members even have to ask—giving them clearer visibility, real-time updates and simpler tools across their care journey. The goal is straightforward: less guesswork, fewer phone calls and a healthcare experience that's easier to navigate.
Clear visibility into prior authorization
Prior authorization is a rarely used process where a health plan confirms that a service is safe, effective and covered before it's provided. While it helps protect quality of care and reduce billing surprises, it can also create uncertainty when members are left wondering where their request stands.
Through an expanded Prior Authorization Status Tracker in the UnitedHealthcare (UHC) app or on myuhc.com, members now get a single, easy-to-use view of their requests as they move through review. This tool:
- Delivers real-time status updates, so members can see exactly where each request is in the process
- Centralizes visibility across all types of prior authorizations in one place
- Provides coverage support if a request is denied, with clear next steps
The tracker now also extends to pharmacy, behavioral health and ancillary benefits—for example, the miscellaneous medical expenses that can come up during a hospital stay—giving members a more complete picture of their care.
A simpler referral experience
A new referrals experience carries that same transparency through digital self-service, live status visibility and provider workflow integration. Members can now:
- Submit a referral request to their provider directly in the UHC app or on myuhc.com, helping reduce wait times and avoid delays in care
- Track active referrals in real time and keep a repository of processed ones
- Request a referral through the AI Voice Scheduling Assistant, which can start the process on their behalf
- Start a referral from within the Prior Authorization Status Tracker, alongside cost estimates and provider search
- Receive push notifications when a referral is about to expire
When a referral is required, the tracker automatically flags related cost estimates, so there are fewer surprises along the way.
Answers, when and where members need them
UnitedHealthcare recently introduced Avery, a generative AI experience available through the UHC app and uhc.com. Avery is designed to support the entire care journey, which can include questions about benefits, claims and coverage including real-time updates on a prior authorization or claim's status.
Avery adapts to the user, offering a more personalized experience based on their specific benefits, providers and claims. Members can ask a question and get clear answers drawn from multiple data sources, so they spend less time searching on their own.
A simpler experience, by design
Each of these tools makes healthcare easier to navigate on its own. Together, they add up to something bigger—an experience built around clarity. That's UnitedHealthcare's continued commitment: greater transparency, simpler tools and a clearer path to the care members need.
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