Sunday Morning

It's early Sunday morning and I'm just sitting here at my computer thinking about how much things have changed. Our office manager had gall bladder surgery Friday - and she expects to be back to work tomorrow morning. A surgery that once had a several week recovery time has come so far that Shelly will be back on Monday.

In many ways the insurance billing for the surgery has also come a long ways. A few years ago employees sat at typewriters and typed in claims information. It took several minutes to complete a form which was then mailed to the insurance company. The claim was then passed through many hands from the people in the mail room who opened the envelope to the final processor who makes the decision on whether or not the claim is paid. This was a several week process.

Now most of our claims are sent electronically through the computer. Insurance companies love this. It cuts way down on the amount of time employees are handling the claims which cuts down substantially on their costs. Physicians love this. Their payments come much quicker. Problem claims are found much sooner and dealt with before they are denied. This brings their outstanding receivables (or cash) in much quicker.

Now we even have electronic remittances which will post payments automatically to your practice management system. What will we see next?

Are you billing your insurance claims electronically? For more information on electronic claims submissions visit our page on electronic billing.