Medical Chronicle November/December 2013 | Page 62

PRACTICE MANAGEMENT

The case for electronic remittance advice
Sending claims electronically
provides substantial benefits such as
reduced paperwork, increased cash
flow and reduced claim rejections.
So do electronic remittance advice
(ERA) solutions provide substantial
benefits to both medical schemes/
administrators and healthcare
professionals? Healthcare
professionals will reap the benefits
of faster turnaround time in the
processing and allocation of detailed
claim payments. An increasing
number of medical schemes/
administrators realise the benefits
of reduced operating costs and
streamlined processes, compared
to managing the manual allocation
of the payment and rejection
information contained on paper
remittance advices.
ERAs are recognised by many
in the healthcare industry as
a business-critical initiative
to combat rapidly increasing
transaction volumes, high
administrative costs, complex
regulatory compliance issues
and changing market demands.
The automated allocation of
ERAs completes the lifecycle of
electronic claims submissions leveraging existing technology
to allow complete and accurate
submission of claims, notification of
rejections and, finally, payment.

Benefits to the practice
include:
• Reducing manual
reconciliation of patient
accounts which is a long,
tedious process prone to
errors.
• Saving time and money.
• Improved cash flow. By
allowing the practice to
speedily follow-up on rejected
claims and collect money
from patients where the claim
was short or unpaid.
• Simplification of
processes.

*Content supplied by Mediswitch.

62 MEDICAL CHRONICLE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013