Case Study: Major National Health Plan drives paper-to-electronic migration to 88.5% electronic payments and $6.2M annual savings with Optum Settlement Advocate

Offering Providers a Choice of Payment Options Drives Paper-to-Electronic Migration

Major National Health Plan, a northeast‑based payer with more than 35 million members and a network of 700,000+ providers, faced slow adoption of electronic payments and wanted to reduce costly paper checks. To accelerate the transition it engaged Optum and deployed the Settlement Advocate service to offer providers modern payment choices.

Optum implemented a choice-driven campaign—multiple advance notices plus an opt-out virtual credit card (VCC) program alongside EFT enrollment—that moved thousands of providers to electronic payments; electronic claim payments rose from 74% to 88.5%, approximately 53,000 providers now receive VCCs, and the program’s estimated annual financial impact was $6.2 million. Optum’s approach maintained provider goodwill (about 80% continued accepting VCCs and most others switched to EFT) while delivering substantial print/postage savings and incentive payments.