• Revenue Cycle Management
  • COVID-19
  • Reimbursement
  • Diabetes Awareness Month
  • Risk Management
  • Patient Retention
  • Staffing
  • Medical Economics® 100th Anniversary
  • Coding and documentation
  • Business of Endocrinology
  • Telehealth
  • Physicians Financial News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Cardiovascular Clinical Consult
  • Locum Tenens, brought to you by LocumLife®
  • Weight Management
  • Business of Women's Health
  • Practice Efficiency
  • Finance and Wealth
  • EHRs
  • Remote Patient Monitoring
  • Sponsored Webinars
  • Medical Technology
  • Billing and collections
  • Acute Pain Management
  • Exclusive Content
  • Value-based Care
  • Business of Pediatrics
  • Concierge Medicine 2.0 by Castle Connolly Private Health Partners
  • Practice Growth
  • Concierge Medicine
  • Business of Cardiology
  • Implementing the Topcon Ocular Telehealth Platform
  • Malpractice
  • Influenza
  • Sexual Health
  • Chronic Conditions
  • Technology
  • Legal and Policy
  • Money
  • Opinion
  • Vaccines
  • Practice Management
  • Patient Relations
  • Careers

Electronic claims could save healthcare system billions, report says

Article

A new report from UnitedHealth Group says the U.S. healthcare system could reduce costs by $332 billion over the next 10 years if healthcare providers update their technology.

A new report from UnitedHealth Group says the U.S. healthcare system could reduce costs by $332 billion over the next 10 years if healthcare providers update their technology.

The report outlined estimated administrative savings from three general actions, with multiple options under each. The three general actions are: required use of common technology and information standards, with enhanced interoperability and connectivity; use of advanced system-wide techniques to improve payment speed and accuracy; and streamlined provider credentialing, privileging and quality-designation processes.

The option detailing the elimination of paper checks and paper remittances in favor of electronic funds transfer and electronic remittances was estimated to save $109 billion, by far the biggest savings. The second-largest savings would come from implementing a national system to monitor and flag questionable health claims, and would save an estimated $47 billion, the report says.

UnitedHealth estimated that these actions would generate administrative savings, of which 50 percent would go to hospitals and physicians, 30 percent to commercial payers and 20 percent to Medicare and Medicaid. However, UnitedHealth says the government could institute policies to take a larger share to help pay for reform programs.

The $332 billion is only accounting for administrative savings, and does not account for any money saved by electronic systems reducing wasteful medical practices.

Related Videos
© drsampsondavis.com
© drsampsondavis.com
© drsampsondavis.com
© drsampsondavis.com
Mike Bannon ©CSG Partners