The 2003 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy rules mandate the behavior of healthcare providers towards the flow of health information. HIPAA advocates electronic submission of bills, and has been instrumental in bringing about a great change in medical billing practices. Electronic billing enables medical providers to get more returns in less time.

HIPAA compels healthcare providers to improve their administrative processes. An increasing number of medical providers are turning to third party medical billing providers to implement the new standards. Medical billing providers are experts in HIPAA compliance and industry best practices. Hiring a billing service saves medical providers the trouble of learning a new system while reaping the immediate benefits of an improved revenue management cycle.

Advantages of electronic claim filing

Medical billing providers file claims electronically for their clients. There are many advantages to this:

• An online records management system reduces the chances of errors in the forms, radically increasing the collections.

• Filing claims electronically is fast as the interface is data intuitive.

• Managing and tracking electronic claims is easy.

• Electronic claims are processed and paid in less than 21 days. Manual submission and payment of claims takes 90 days on an average.

• Unpaid claims are reduced by almost 60%.

• Filing claims electronically saves cost. The cost of filing a claim electronically is half the cost of paper submission, and the cost of reviewing an electronic claim is one third of the manual process.

All these advantages are making more and more healthcare providers take to electronic submission of claims. More than 75% of the medical claims submitted are electronic.

Medical billing services and HIPAA compliance

HIPAA requires healthcare providers to implement security procedures to meet government regulations and ensure the faith of patients. Medical practitioners should work only with professional medical billing providers who are experts in HIPAA compliance. Before signing up your potential billing partner, ask the following questions:

• What processes are in place to ensure HIPAA compliance?

• Is the billing provider's staff trained in HIPAA compliance?

• Does the staff appreciate the difference HIPAA compliance brings to billing services?

• How is the security of health information assured?

• Which medical billing software does the billing provider use?

• Does the medical billing software incorporate all the critical HIPAA-related requirements?

• Is the billing provider's software compatible with your records management application?

• Does the billing provider offer comprehensive patient records management services?

HIPAA has enforced standardization of billing transactions. While this was initially perceived as a needless time-consuming procedure, HIPAA has helped the medical industry increase revenue by billions of dollars. Administrative efficiency and effective record management systems help healthcare providers reduce time to payments and improve their bottom line dramatically.

Electronic claim filing has infused a new life into healthcare practices that are often troubled with low cash flow. Medical billing providers ensure HIPAA compliance for your practice, make your revenue management cycle more effective and streamline the billing process.