Hospitals Could Save $9 Billion Under EFT Rules, HHS Says

Studies have shown that the average physician spends three weeks a year haggling with payers over bills. It has been estimated that in a physician’s office two-thirds of a full-time employee is needed for each physician is to conduct these administrative tasks.

The new operating rules include best business guidelines for electronic transmissions and tackle sticking points that physician practices and insurers have with electronic transactions. For example, the rule announced this week requires insurers to offer a standardized online enrollment for EFT and ERA so that physicians and hospitals can easily enroll with several health plans to receive electronic transactions.

The rule also requires health plans to send the EFT within a set amount of days of the ERA. That helps providers reconcile their accounts more quickly, HHS said in the media release.