The NIHB Program has become aware that providers calling Express Scripts Canada (ESC) to get client authorization information were being subjected to unacceptably long wait times earlier last week.  This situation was the result of changes ESC has made to its Green Provider Statement Initiative on other books of business that should be completely unrelated to NIHB.  These changes had generated call volumes to ESC far greater than anticipated which began to impact on the calls to the NIHB line.

This issue has been raised with ESC.  ESC has committed to address the problem by:

• ensuring calls related to the green provider statement initiative are directed into a separate queue that has dedicated resources to answer these calls.  
• hiring extra staff to address the abnormal call volumes
• offering the option of providers leaving a voice mail if they don’t wish to be on hold, the message is sent in priority sequence to the first available agent to return the call.

The ESC toll free number for NIHB Dental providers remains 1-888-511-4666.

We apologise for the situation and assure you that all measures are being taken to rectify the situation.