In August of last year, I found an article that detailed one of the less talked about mandates found in the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as “Obamacare. Effective January 1, 2014, payers were required to offer electronic funds transfer (EFT) and electronic remittance advice (ERA)with all applicable operating rules and technical standards.
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This is great news. Insurance companies will be assisting providers in reducing their operating costs and increasing their efficiency. As a medical biller, I have seen a significant decrease in the amount of paperwork involved in the day to day operations. Amazingly, even with an abundance of electronic gadgetry and apps, we can sometimes still feel buried by stacks of EOB’s, claims, checks and various insurance correspondences. |
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Back in August, that article suggested that about only 46% of healthcare remittances (EOBs) were available electronically and only about 10% of insurer payments were sent via EFT. Those paper remittances translate to numerous man hours in the medical office “deciphering” non-standardized payer jargon and then keying in the data. Schlepping checks to the bank is both tedious, time-consuming and slows down your important cash flow. |
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Claim turn-around time can be reduced to as little as 5 to 7 business days in a full electronic scenario. In comparison to the “old days” when a paper billing cycle averaged 30 to 45 days, this new government effort should be considered a significant win for providers. A small investment of your time to research your payers and enroll for ERA and EFT will provide a significant payoff in the end. |
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Even if your payers do not offer their ERAs through an Automated Clearinghouse that you currently use, Iridium Suite Practice Management Software is capable of importing and adjudicating all standardized 835 formatted electronic remittance advices.
Save the forests! Enroll for ERA and EFT! |
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