Medicare AdvantageAdministrativeMedium impact
Enhanced portal functionality offers increased efficiency
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care·Psychiatry·Provider Newsletter
Effective date
Oct 2, 2026
We identified it
Sep 12, 2026
Summary
Point32Health is expanding the MHK portal functionality for Tufts Health Plan Senior Care Options (SCO) members, enabling providers to submit behavioral health and medical prior authorization requests and inpatient notifications electronically with real-time determinations starting October 2, 2026. This eliminates the need for phone or manual submissions for these request types, though care manager notifications for certain procedures must still be handled via phone.
Action Required
By September 30, 2026: Billing and clinical staff must complete training on the MHK portal's new authorization and notification submission features for Tufts Health Plan SCO members. Update internal workflows to route behavioral health and medical prior authorization requests through MHK instead of phone or manual submission processes. Confirm that the practice has access to MHK and that staff credentials are active. Note that procedures, services, and items requiring care manager notification cannot be submitted via portal—establish a process to identify when care manager contact is required and route those requests to Provider Services at 800-279-9022. Review the updated Tufts Health Plan Secure Provider Portal User Guide, MHK Portal User Guide, and Behavioral Health and Substance Use Disorder Portal User Guide to understand the new capabilities. Failure to transition to portal submission may result in delayed authorizations and increased processing times.