New Jersey In A Test Version Of Streamline Documentation Of Health Insurance Added

The discussion of participation in last year on how best to repair the health system in the country, insurance companies promised to pay its part, the decision of compromising documents, medical requirements will be.

Despite the impasse in the health legislation in Congress, said the insurance scheme, they must fulfill their promises.

On Thursday in two major industry trades group America's Health Insurance Plans and Blue Cross Blue Shield Association pilot program in New Jersey is known. Five of importance to the state private insurance plans, doctors and hospitals the option of a single Web portal used to verify patient's coverage and duration of claims, regardless of the status of the five health regions they are registered in proposals

These efforts are one of the most pressing problems in the insurance sector, the system of the country: hospitals and doctors to spend too much time and money to determine if a patient has coverage or why the application was rejected. Tens of billions of dollars a year are wasted due to inefficiency of the administration.

Insurers, a similar project launched last fall in Ohio, where about 700 doctors from a single web site access to insurance that you can get information on their patients.

"To make the driver a good example of commitment to the industry on a voluntary basis, in removing the administrative problems that doctors face," said Ronald Williams, CEO of Aetna, the big insurers, including industry leaders, the common effort.

The production promises substantial savings by streamlining the documentation has been under discussion in the industry in June, with the White House. But the experimental work were carried out in parallel with a general discussion on the right of health care, said Karen Ignagni, president of health insurance plans U.S..

The transition between the insurers to develop standards and systems to help physicians determine the extent of patient and continue to be paid regardless of the status of federal law, "she said.

We hope we made the leap, "said Ms. Ignagni, who said that the two state projects have been tested the way for insurers in the various systems of the web and see that the technology works better in the hospital and doctors before they are finally starting another job.

Insurers in Florida and California have already talked about starting their own initiative, she said. "We want to move on this very, very quickly, so that we can offer in any state," she said.

Register in accordance with a pilot program in New Jersey, doctors and clinics in the state in a Web portal for NaviNet, which already offers a similar system for the web of health insurance plans individual.

Participants Represented Aetna, Ameritech New Jersey Health Care, Cigna, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, and Zurich, approximately 95 percent of people covered by private insurers in the state. Clinicians who are able to verify patient coverage was in position and track the status of their claims.

But while doctors can go to a website, they have always fed or have access to information about a particular patient with sections of the site by insurance companies. And not all health plans will now provide the same level of information.

Although some packages allow the physician to determine if a patient because of the cost of expensive treatment, consider, for example, through surcharges and franchise patients, how many were made, while others provide that a plan for client reporting.

Doctors in Ohio say that the system, it is always useful to make it easier to find if someone has a blanket, or consider the claim. The new system is a beginning, "said Mark Jarvis, a senior official of the Ohio State Medical Association, but he said more work was needed to simplify the process.

Some insurers are clearer than others, why he was denied a request, he said, and the doctor's office even enter your billing information twice - once for their own management practice, again in a new location.

"What we really need to integrate the data into the workflow in the office," said Jarvis.

The industry recognizes that insurers are still in the process of making decisions on these standards. "We've come a long way," said Williams, Aetna. But he compared the current initiative of the industry since ATMs are not, if the customer uses a credit card to work in every car.

"All these things have, over time, we have standardized," he said.

For physicians, such as Stephen A. Nurkiewicz, the ability to easily define the scope of patients before the office visit was a huge step forward. As a solo practitioner in Hammonton, New Jersey, Dr. Nurkiewicz NaviNet already uses some of its negotiations with insurers and hopes that I can say, before the patient, the patient sees accountability.

"It should be better than it is now," he said.