One in Three
Administration associated with health care claims and billing accounts for nearly one out of every three dollars that patients spend on health care, according to a PNC Financial Services Group survey of executives from hospitals and insurance companies.
According to their press release, more than three-quarters (76 percent) of the U.S. consumers surveyed said they think that health care administration should account for just 10 percent or less of total health care costs, with a large majority indicating they would be "highly upset" if those administrative costs were as high as 30 percent.
Additional survey results include:
- Hospital executives reported that one in five claims submitted, on average, is delayed or denied and 96 percent of all claims must be submitted more than once.
- Hospitals that do not use electronic billing or claims submission processes reported, on average, resubmitting a claim 11 times or more, or nearly four times more than those hospitals using electronic processes.
- Insurance executives surveyed said they go back to hospitals two times, on average, to get all the information needed to pay a claim.
- Nearly a quarter of consumers reported having had a legitimate claim denied by their health plan; one in five ultimately paid the claim out of their own pocket.
- When asked how much could be saved annually if they had a more efficient claims, billing and payment process, one-third of hospital and health plan executives both said their organizations could save at least $1 million a year.
- The benefit of automated processes most often cited by insurance executives was that claims processing time significantly reduced, and 63 percent said that customer satisfaction had improved.
- When asked where the cost savings would be applied, the area most often cited by hospital executives was "reinvested in improving patient care."
Posted by Shawn Whalen on March 26, 2007 at 3:39 PM
Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
