In an opinion piece for the New York Times' "Opinionator," Ezekiel Emanuel -- vice provost and professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a former White House adviser -- writes that administrative and billing systems are among "the biggest money wasters in our health care system" and that electronic billing systems could save billions of dollars.
Emanuel writes, "Instead of having a unified electronic billing system in which a patient could simply swipe an ATM-like card for automatic verification of eligibility, claims processing and payment, we have a complicated system with lots of expensive manual data entry that produces costly mistakes."
According to Emanuel, David Cutler -- an economist at Harvard University -- has estimated that electronic billing and credentialing could reduce costs by $32 billion annually. To achieve the savings, Emanuel recommends that operating standards for electronic billing systems cover:
- Authorizing tests and treatments;
- Claims submission;
- Real-time adjudication of claims denials; and
- Verification of the progress of a particular claim.
He adds that the federal government should require all stakeholders -- including hospitals, insurers, physicians and government agencies -- to use electronic billing systems.
Emanuel writes that numerous other industries have achieved savings by eliminating paper-based billing systems. He concludes, "It's not brain surgery. Health insurance billing can also be brought into the Internet era" (Emanuel, "Opinionator," New York Times, 11/12).