Here are tips for searching the provider manuals

Have you ever been frustrated when you couldn’t find something in the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan provider manuals? Here’s how to make your search easier and more productive.

If you know which provider manual chapter you want to search, first open the chapter. Then:

• Press Ctrl + F on your keyboard. (Press F while you hold down the Ctrl key.) This will open the Find dialog box.
• Enter a search term in the Find dialog box.
• Click Next.

• Keep clicking Next until you find what you’re looking for.

Each time you click Next, you’ll be taken to another location in the chapter where your search term appears.

The Ctrl + F method of searching can be used in any document, not just in a provider manual chapter. For instance, you can also use it on The Record Archive page to help you find a newsletter article headline.

When using Ctrl + F, the more words you use, the fewer results you’ll get. That’s because the more words that are in your search term, the fewer are the chances that all those words will appear together — and in the exact order in which you’ve arranged them — in the document you’re searching. For example, if you search for “claim” in the Claims chapter, you’ll find more than 100 results. However, if you search for “claim form,” you’ll find 13 matches.

If you don’t know which provider manual chapter you want to search, you can search the entire provider manual using the Keyword Search and the Virtual Document.

1. Keyword search
   
   After selecting your Provider Type, click on Keyword(s) in the Provider Manuals dashboard.
   
   This will open a Keyword Criteria panel that offers you two boxes in which to type keywords. You can only type one word in each of the boxes. If you type two words in one box, you will not get any results.
   
   When you click Finish and then click Search in the dashboard, the computer will take up to a minute to compile your list of manual chapters that contain the search words you’ve chosen. In some cases, there will be many chapters in the result. This is the case for the example shown above. The search terms “claim” and “appeal” exist in 12 chapters of the MD-DO provider manual. If you don’t want to click through each chapter to find what you’re looking for, you can use the Virtual Document.

2. Virtual Document
   
   The first item listed in the search results is the Virtual Document. When you click on it, you’ll get the following message in green: The requested virtual document has been created. Click the Jobs tab to view it.
   
   When you click on the Jobs tab, you’ll see a document listed. Click on it and it will open one long document that contains every chapter that was in your Keyword search results.

3. Use Ctrl + F
   
   Now you can use Ctrl + F to open the Find dialog box and click on Next to quickly review all instances of your search terms in the manual.

If you need assistance, Provider Inquiry or your provider consultant can help. You can also send an email to ProviderManuals@bcbsm.com for concerns related to the Blue Cross provider manuals.