COVID-19 Authorization Waivers
Customize your policy alerts
Sign up for all blue cross blue shield - louisiana policy alerts
Know when blue cross blue shield - louisiana releases new policies or updates existing guidance.
Monitor payer policy activity
Temporary waivers of prior authorization requirements for certain inpatient, outpatient, and DME services related to COVID-19 for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana members (excludes Federal Employee Program members). Informs providers when waivers apply and remaining notification requirements.
Waiver of prior authorizations for urgent inpatient admissions and stays for all diagnoses, effective August 20, 2021.
Waiver of prior authorizations for outpatient services and DME for COVID-19 diagnoses, effective August 20, 2021.
Authorization provisions do not apply to Federal Employee Program (FEP) members.
Authorization waiver coverage and exclusions
Authorization waiver criteria and exclusions
Covered when ALL of the following apply:
Waiver applies to one of the following settings
Urgent inpatient admissions and stays
- Applies to urgent/emergent inpatient admissions and stays for ALL diagnoses.
- Facilities/providers must still notify Blue Cross of the stay.
- Medical review activities during the stay are not required.
- Does NOT apply to elective or scheduled admissions or transplants.
Outpatient services and durable medical equipment (DME)
- Applies only when services are for COVID-19 diagnoses.
- Providers must still notify Blue Cross of the services.
- Medical review activities for the services are not required.
Codes and diagnosis requirements
| No codes listed |
What providers need to do
Prior authorization waiver summary and conditions
Effective August 20, 2021, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana waives prior authorization requirements for urgent inpatient admissions and stays (all diagnoses) and for outpatient services and durable medical equipment (DME) when provided for COVID-19 diagnoses. Facilities and providers must still notify Blue Cross of the stay or services; medical review activities during the stay/services are not required. The waivers do not apply to elective/scheduled admissions, transplants, out-of-state or non-participating providers/facilities, or Federal Employee Program (FEP) members.
- Waiver effective date: August 20, 2021.
- Urgent inpatient admissions and stays: all diagnoses; facilities must notify Blue Cross; medical review during stay not required.
- Outpatient services and DME: applies only for COVID-19 diagnoses; providers must notify Blue Cross; medical review not required.
- Exclusions: elective/scheduled admissions, transplants, out-of-state or non-participating providers/facilities, and FEP members.
Earlier waiver for inpatient transfers to lower level of care remains effective
An earlier waiver for authorization requests related to inpatient admission transfers to a lower level of care that began August 9, 2021 remains in effect per the prior communication.
- Original waiver effective date for transfers to lower level of care: August 9, 2021.
In-network and provider participation limitation
These authorization waivers apply only to participating, in‑network providers and facilities; out‑of‑state or non‑participating providers/facilities are excluded. Providers must notify Blue Cross when the waived services occur.
- In-network benefits apply only for participating providers.
- Waivers do not apply to out-of-state or non-participating providers/facilities.
- Providers/facilities must notify Blue Cross of the stay or services even when authorization is waived.
Key definition notes and exclusions
OpenPayer is powered by Trek Health's payer performance platform. Trek continuously ingests, validates, and normalizes Transparency in Coverage data alongside payer policies and other commercial payer data to create a structured payer intelligence foundation. OpenPayer uses this foundation to deliver personalized search results, dynamically generated policy pages, and tailored policy monitoring based on each user's payers, specialties, billing codes, and areas of interest. The same intelligence powers broader payer performance workflows, including reimbursement benchmarking, contract evaluation, payer negotiations, and financial decision-making.