It's Working: Electronic Claims Submission Speeds Receipts From Payors

Submitting claims to health plans electronically is accomplishing the No. 1 goal that ehealth advocates have set for it -- pulling in collections faster -- says a new survey by MediNetwork. In a survey taken in May and June, 2002 by the Dallas medical practice management system and consulting company, 51% of 301 physician groups, participating in the survey and posting claims to insurers electronically, receive reimbursements in an average time of zero to 30 days. Of groups posting electronically, 39% collect in 31 to 60 days, and just 4% still take more than 60 days. (About 6% of answers to these questions were unusable.)

These same groups' answers to the question -- what was the average time to reimbursement before the groups posted claims electronically -- stand in sharp contrast. Just 1% were collecting in 30 days or less. There were 33% collecting in the 31-to-60 day range, and 47% needed more than 60 days. (Approximately 19% of responses were unusable.)

Of the practices responding to the survey, 95% use computers and the Internet to code and bill insurance claims electronically. That may seem unrealistically high. MediNetwork polled 4,000 groups by mail, and 7.5% of the groups responded. It may be that, in general, practice managers whose groups were making relatively more use of computer tools chose to respond to the survey.

Other survey results on revenue-related questions are:

• 85% of respondent groups track their financial flows on computer.
• 70% verify patients' insurance eligibility using the Internet.
• 66% have a Web site and, of those without one, 41% plan to start one in the next 12 months.

In the hiring area, 32% of respondents use the Internet to recruit physicians or staff, and 29% use email for this purpose.

View the full survey results (PDF).