Onyx Blog
The Fax Machine Is Still Winning. Here’s How CMS-0057 Changes That.
Same payer. Two patients. Two completely different experiences. The first is on a Medicare Advantage plan — prior auth answered in seconds at the point of care, provider moves on with treatment. The next patient walks in on an employer plan with the same payer. Same provider. Same office. Different answer: send a fax.
“The provider can do that instant prior authorization, get an answer, get on with treatment. Next, in comes a patient on an employer plan for the same payer — ‘Oh, you mean I’ve got to send a fax to get an answer?'”
Mark Scrimshire, speaking with Availity
Mark Scrimshire helped build the Blue Button initiative at CMS. He knows what these APIs were designed to do. And his point here isn’t that the technology is failing — it’s that adoption is. The capability exists. The mandate exists. The gap is execution.
Health plans that are getting the most from CMS-0057 aren’t treating it as a compliance checkbox. They’re using it as the starting point for something bigger — extending what they built for Medicare Advantage across their entire membership, closing the experience gap for every patient and every provider regardless of line of business.
That shift — from compliance-driven change to business transformation, as Mark puts it — is where the real value lives. And it starts with getting the foundation right.
Health plans that build that foundation well aren’t just ready for CMS-0057. They’re positioned for every mandate that follows — and for the data usability and intelligence that turns compliance investment into clinical and operational value.
Onyx helps health plans build the data foundation that powers continuous compliance — so every new CMS mandate strengthens rather than strains your operations. Our CMS Readiness Check identifies gaps across APIs, data readiness, workflow alignment, vendor handoffs, governance, testing, and operational execution.
Request Your CMS Readiness Check
