Quickly learn how to bill Blue Shield of California MHSA mental health claims, how to find out if the client has a Blue Shield of CA plan or a Blue Shield MHSA plan, and where to bill each one, along with phone numbers to dial.

Blue Shield of California, a different company than Anthem Blue Cross of California, handles most of their mental health insurance claims by subcontracting them out (a carve out) to Magellan.  How to bill Blue Shield MHSA becomes a problem when the client’s coverage is not handled directly by the parent company, Blue Shield of CA.

Blue Shield’s mental health department is called Blue Shield MHSA which stands for Blue Shield Mental Health Services Administrator.  This change to a carve out policy was put in place on January 1st of 2012.

Blue Shield MHSA is actually just Magellan Heath Services, or Magellan.  They are the business that handles Blue Shield of CA’s mental health claims.  If you are in-network with Magellan, you are in-network with Blue Shield MHSA.  Our billing service helps with this sort of thing daily.

If you are a Blue Shield of CA credentialed provider, you might not be a Blue Shield MHSA provider.  Call (877) 263-9952 to inquire about your network status with MHSA.

How to Bill Blue Shield MHSA and Blue Shield of CA

The first thing you’ll need to do is to find out which insurance company handles the client’s coverage: Blue Shield of CA or Blue Shield MHSA.

Call MHSA instead of Blue Shield first to inquire about the client’s mental health benefits.  Call (877) 263-9952.

Follow our eligibility and benefits verification script to ask the right questions and confirm you are in-network with the client’s plan.  Get out of network benefits quoted if you are out of network and obtain authorization if required.  Or just have us do your mental health insurance billing front to back with our billing service; we handle this daily.

Some client’s do have Blue Shield of CA and not MHSA, oddly.  Blue Shield of CA covers EAP sessions, a federal plan, or out of state coverage.  There are a few other cases where we are to bill to Blue Shield of CA directly.

Call Blue Shield of CA at 800 541 6652 and inquire about the member’s eligibility and benefits.  During this call you will also collect where to send the claims (Blue Shield of CA vs MHSA).

Now you know how to bill Blue Shield of MHSA.

Where to Send Blue Shield MHSA and Blue Shield of CA Claims

Blue Shield MHSA:

Payer ID: 01260
Claims Address:  P.O. Box 710400, San Diego CA 921710400
Phone Number:  (877) 263-9952

Blue Shield of CA:

Payer ID:  BS001
Claims Address: P.O. Box 272540, Chico CA 959272540
Phone Number:  (800) 541-6652

Is Blue Shield MHSA the same as Magellan?

The short answer is yes!  But because they are associated with Blue Shield, the medical plan associated with the client’s coverage will be through Blue Shield of CA with some services being sub-contracted or carved-out to other insurance companies.

Magellan is the mental health carve out of Blue Shield of California.  Therefore they call it Blue Shield MHSA but in reality it is owned by Magellan.

Do I Need to Be In Network with Magellan?

To bill MHSA, yes you do!

This is a Nightmare!

We can help you sort out these sorts of things without your input whatsoever.  Our expertise comes in handy daily when parsing out these carve out policies (in all states).  Learn how we can handle your mental health billing today.