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New rule requires physicians to file health insurance claim payments electronically
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The Department of Health and Human Services has issued a new rule that requires health care claim payments to be made electronically.
“These new rules will cut red tape, save money and ensure doctors spend more time seeing patients and less time filling out forms,” Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius stated in an HHS news release.
Studies estimate billing- and insurance-related administrative tasks consume two-thirds of a full-time physician employee’s time, according to the release. HHS estimates the cost savings to be $2.7 billion to $9 billion during the next 10 years for physician practices, hospitals and health plans. The costs savings include paper, printing, and postage costs, and time required for staff to manually process and deposit paper checks, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Fact Sheet for the rule.
The rule requires insurers to offer an online enrollment process for electronic fund transfer (EFT) and electronic remittance advice (ERA) operating rules that allow physicians and hospitals to enroll multiple health plans to receive transactions electronically. Insurance companies must send EFTs within a set amount of days of the ERA for providers to reconcile accounts more quickly.
The rule was published in the Federal Register today, and physicians must comply with the rule beginning Jan. 1, 2014. The rule implements parts of section 1104 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which requires the adoption of operating rules for health care EFTs and ERAs.
Reference:
www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-08-10/html/2012-19557.htm
