Symphony and Availity Provider Data Management FAQs

The Symphony Provider Directory simplifies how California’s health plans, purchasers, and provider groups unite to streamline the exchange and maintenance of provider directory information. Our advanced, cloud-based platform serves as a single source of accurate provider data, helping patients find and access care while ensuring everyone stays compliant. For more information on Symphony, please visit  IHA.org/Symphony.

Availity, the nation’s largest real-time health network, is Symphony’s single-source technology partner. Integrating with Availity provides a single platform for providers to submit multiple attestations at once. In Availity PDM, a provider, practice, or group employee can easily attest to provider directory information by doing the following:

1. Registering for Availity Essentials™ (if you haven’t already)
2. Verifying, correcting, and submitting information per provider in Availity PDM. See how to attest.

Once you have completed these steps, Symphony will automatically share your updates with your contracted health plans participating in the Symphony Provider Directory. This reduces the number of attestation requests that you must respond to and provides a single location for data exchange.

If you received an email or fax asking you to attest in Availity PDM, it’s because one or more of the health plans you contract with is participating in the Symphony Provider Directory, and they are required by law to request regular information updates from their providers. Although this can normally be a burdensome process, Symphony and Availity work together to streamline and simplify every step of the way.

Improves patient access to care

Consumers rely on provider directories when making decisions about which plan to choose, which providers to see, and even where to go for their appointments. Inaccurate provider directories are one of the biggest pain points for patients, costing time, money, and potentially impacting health outcomes. By attesting to your data in Availity PDM, Symphony helps ensure that health plans consistently deliver accurate information to your patients to improve their ability to access care.

Ensures compliance & timely payments

California SB 137, AB 236, and other CMS regulations require health plans to request regular updates from their providers to ensure accurate provider directories. If they don’t receive provider attestations, they are required by law to remove those providers from their directories. A plan having incorrect information can also delay your payments, impact reimbursement, and harm your relationship with them.

In accordance with California law, Availity sends periodic reminders that you need to attest to the accuracy of your data at least once every 90 days. Once you’ve completed the process, Availity will notify you when your 90-day cycle is ending. Whenever you are asked to attest, your provider information will be pre-populated in your provider profile for your review and verification.

See how to attest

If you do not attest to your information in Availity PDM, Symphony cannot share your attestations with your contracted health plans that partner with us. Failure to attest will result in removal from health plan provider directories and may result in delay of payment or reimbursement.

When in doubt, contact your health plan directly. After receiving validated and tuned information from Availity and Symphony, health plans are required by law to update their systems within certain timeframes. The exact cadence depends on the plan but can take up to 30 days.

If you have submitted a verified profile (attestation) in Availity and believe your health plan has missed a deadline, please contact them directly.

In Availity PDM, you can indicate that your practice is closing and submit that information to the participating health plans you contract with. To learn how, review the Perform actions from the action menu section of this help topic (requires Essentials login): ⁠PDM dashboard help

Contact the health plan directly to terminate your contract.

Note: In Availity PDM, you can update the payer network participation status of providers at specific service locations. To learn how, review the Edit participating payer network information section of these help topics (requires login to Availity Essentials):

• Add or edit a service location for a type 1 provider
• Add or edit a service location for a type 2 provider

Note: Payer network information may only display if the payer is sharing data directly with Availity PDM. If you do not see network information for your payer in PDM, contact the payer directly.

In Availity PDM, you can indicate whether a provider is accepting new patients for a payer's network at specific service locations. To learn how, review the Edit participating payer network information section of these help topics (requires login to Availity Essentials):

• Add or edit a service location for a type 1 provider
• Add or edit a service location for a type 2 provider

Note: Payer network information may only display if the payer is sharing data directly with Availity PDM. If you do not see network information for your payer in PDM, contact the payer directly.

There is no cost for providers to attest and share their information with Symphony through Availity PDM. Symphony is led by IHA, a non-profit healthcare industry association, to help address challenges in provider directory data in California.

For larger provider organizations interested in an even more efficient attestation process, you can contract directly with the Symphony Provider Directory platform for an additional fee. Contact the Symphony Provider Directory team today to learn more.

If you are already using Availity Essentials and have the Provider Data Management role, you are ready to verify, update, and attest to your data. If you have used Availity PDM before, the process for updating and attesting is exactly the same:

1. Log in to Availity Essentials and navigate to My Providers | Provider Data Management.
2. Select the business for which you are verifying provider data, review the data for accuracy, and make updates if needed.
3. Select Submit Verified Profile to attest to the validity of your organization’s data.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for any additional organizations to which you belong.

Note: If you cannot access the application, contact your Availity Essentials administrator and request the Provider Data Management role. To find your administrator, in the Availity Essentials navigation bar, select [Your Name's] Account | My Account | Organization(s) | Open My Administrators.