Billing Made Easy: Electronic Claim Status

Did you know that it costs significantly more to manually check claims status as opposed to checking claims status electronically?

Claim Status- Is the act of contacting the insurance company, payer to obtain payment appeal or denial information.

Needless to say , checking claim status should be the primary function of your medical billing company. However checking claims status manually can be time consuming and can also prevent you from performing other revenue enhancing activities. Medical billers spend significant time on the phone on hold, waiting for call backs and leaving messages for claim status information. Therefore, every effort should be made by an experienced biller and billing service to determine claim status using electronic means.

According to the AMA ( American Medical Association) the cost analysis to determine claim status manually vs. electronically is :

Cost to determine claim status manually: $3.70 x 620 = $2,294
Cost to determine claim status electronically: $0.37 x 620 = $229
Average annual savings per physician from automating claim status: $2,065*
* Based on an annual average of 6,200 claims submitted for a single physician. Source: Milliman, Inc., “Electronic Transaction Savings Opportunities for Physician Practices.” Technology and Operations Solutions. Revised: Jan. 2006

Most insurance companies have a website available, where one-click claim status can be obtained. This may also be obtained from a clearinghouse, or electronic claims functions within your billing system. At MK Professional Billing Services we seize every opportunity to efficiently build revenue. We work harder and smarter for our clients. Even when electronic claim status capabilities are not available you can try to obtain emails for claims adjusters from Workers Compensation providers or smaller local plans. Faxes and automated systems also help get the claim status ball rolling as well.

By removing these parts of the manual processes in an office’s routine, physicians can free their practice staff to perform many other operations to speed up the revenue cycle.