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August 08. 2012 12:11AM
Feds say new rules covering electronic bill payment will save billions
MANCHESTER — New rules covering electronic bill payment for health-care providers and insurers will save up to several billion dollars in administrative costs over 10 years, the federal Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday.
The rule is open for a comment period through Oct. 9, 2012.
“These new rules will cut red tape, save money and ensure doctors spend more time seeing patients and less time filling out forms,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement.
HHS said in a press release the new rule, coupled with industry-wide health-care electronic fund transfer standards that HHS adopted in January, will result in savings of $2.7 billion to $9 billion by reducing inefficient manual administrative processes for physician practices, hospitals, and health plans.
While the rule, “Administrative Simplification: Adoption of Operating Rules for Health Care Electronic Funds Transfers and Remittance Advice Transactions,“ takes effect Aug. 10, health-care industry players have until Jan. 1, 2014, to put systems in place to comply.
HHS said the rule standardizes online enrollment for doctors and hospitals with multiple health plans and speeds up payment.
The average physician spends three weeks a year on billing and insurance-related tasks, requiring two-thirds of a full-time employee per physician, HHS said.
An estimated 70 percent of health-care claim payments continue to be in paper check form, and an estimated 75 percent of remittance advice is sent through the mail in paper form.
Comments, referring to file code CMS–0028-IFC, can be mailed to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services, Attention: CMS-0028-IFC, P.O. Box 8013, Baltimore, MD 21244-8013 or submitted at regulations.gov.
The Affordable Care Act, Section 1104(b)(2)(C), directed the secretary of HHS to adopt operating rules for electronic funds transfers (EFT) transactions and health-care payment and remittance advice transactions.
HHS estimates the total cost of compliance for health-care providers and insurers at $7.27 million 2014 through 2018.
On the Net: ofr.gov/inspection.aspx (the EFT rule)
Denis Paiste may be reached at dpaiste@unionleader.com.
The rule is open for a comment period through Oct. 9, 2012.
“These new rules will cut red tape, save money and ensure doctors spend more time seeing patients and less time filling out forms,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement.
HHS said in a press release the new rule, coupled with industry-wide health-care electronic fund transfer standards that HHS adopted in January, will result in savings of $2.7 billion to $9 billion by reducing inefficient manual administrative processes for physician practices, hospitals, and health plans.
While the rule, “Administrative Simplification: Adoption of Operating Rules for Health Care Electronic Funds Transfers and Remittance Advice Transactions,“ takes effect Aug. 10, health-care industry players have until Jan. 1, 2014, to put systems in place to comply.
HHS said the rule standardizes online enrollment for doctors and hospitals with multiple health plans and speeds up payment.
The average physician spends three weeks a year on billing and insurance-related tasks, requiring two-thirds of a full-time employee per physician, HHS said.
An estimated 70 percent of health-care claim payments continue to be in paper check form, and an estimated 75 percent of remittance advice is sent through the mail in paper form.
Comments, referring to file code CMS–0028-IFC, can be mailed to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services, Attention: CMS-0028-IFC, P.O. Box 8013, Baltimore, MD 21244-8013 or submitted at regulations.gov.
The Affordable Care Act, Section 1104(b)(2)(C), directed the secretary of HHS to adopt operating rules for electronic funds transfers (EFT) transactions and health-care payment and remittance advice transactions.
HHS estimates the total cost of compliance for health-care providers and insurers at $7.27 million 2014 through 2018.
On the Net: ofr.gov/inspection.aspx (the EFT rule)
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Denis Paiste may be reached at dpaiste@unionleader.com.
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