The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today that a new Affordable Care Act rule requiring electronic funds transfers will reduce administrative costs for doctors and hospitals, private health plans, states and other government health plans by $4.5 billion over the next 10 years.
The Adoption of Standards for Health Care Electronic Funds Transfers and Remittance Advice adopts streamlined standards for the format and data content of the transmission a health plan sends to its bank when it wants to pay a claim to a provider electronically (through an electronic funds transfer) and to issue a Remittance Advice notice. Remittance Advice is a notice of payment sent to providers that may or may not accompany the payment the provider receives.
The new rule builds upon regulations published earlier this year that set industry-wide standards for how health providers use electronic systems to quickly and easily determine a patient's eligibility for health coverage and check on the status of a health claim, said HHS in a press release.
"Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, healthcare professionals will spend less time filling out paperwork and more time focusing on delivering the best care for patients," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a statement.
A May 2010 study in the journal Health Affairs found that physicians spend nearly 12 percent of every dollar they receive from patients to cover the costs of filling out forms and performing other excessively complex administrative tasks. The study found that simplifying these systems could save four hours per week of professional time per physician and five hours of support staff time every week – time that could be better spent on patient care.
"As a nurse, I know the importance of giving healthcare professionals time to focus on patient care," said CMS Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner in a statement. "The less time a physician has to spend on paperwork is that much more time that can be devoted to patient care. Having standardized procedures across the health care industry can only lead to lower costs and greater efficiencies all around."