We are pleased to announce that a new agreement has been reached with Aetna. This allows Valley to continue to be an in-network provider for Aetna-insured patients and will cover services provided since previous contracts ended June 1, 2025. We understand how important it is for our patients to retain in-network access to the doctors, programs, and expert care teams they know and trust. Thank you for your patience throughout this process.
There has been an increase in the number of insurance denials with nuclear stress testing recently due to inadequate documentation explaining the clinical justification for the order.
To help remedy this, there is a smart phrase available for providers to use: .nucmedstresstest
The nuclear stress test orders also have a reminder in the Process Instructions to use the SmartPhrase:
Use of the SmartPhrase is not required but providers need to document clinical justification for the nuclear stress test in their progress note. After implementing this SmartPhrase in Cardiology, our insurance denial rate and need to call back for appeals/pre-auth have gone down significantly.