AMA issues first report card on health insurers

The American Medical Association has issued its first health insurance report card, with the primary focus on how quickly and accurately doctors get paid. The report card is an effort to reduce the cost of claims processing to doctors and help them as they negotiate contracts with insurance companies. It will also help patients if it reduces wasteful administrative costs, said AMA representatives. The report card compares Medicare and seven national commercial health insurers on the timeliness and accuracy of claims processing, and is based on a random sample drawn from 3 million claims.