AI Brings Accuracy and Efficiency to Medical Insurance Processing

The task of taking patient insurance information, entering the data, and filing claims is one of the more frustrating, time consuming, and error prone tasks involved in any medical interaction. In fact, about a quarter of US medical spending is on administrative overhead, much of which can be attributed to handling insurance. 

Some of the most common causes for wasted time and money relating to insurance capture and processing are things like errors in data given by patients, errors during data input, wrong payer identification, and lapsed coverage, among other things. All of these issues not only waste time and waste money for medical professionals and administrators, but it also contributes to the issue of patients not having a clear picture of costs involved in procedures they are considering. 

Since the COVID pandemic began in 2020, other unprecedented issues have risen relating to insurance coverage, insurance capture, and telehealth visits. Prior to the pandemic, Medicare generally only covered telemedicine for those located in rural areas without easy access to medical facilities. 

However, the pandemic caused numerous changes in the way healthcare functions, and televisits, now covered by more insurances, have given rise to administrative headaches as many telehealth professionals don’t have front end administrative staff to handle insurance processing. This is leading to more errors in information and coverage. 

One way in which many industries have resolved issues of a clerical or administrative nature is by incorporating AI into their processes. The healthcare industry would do well to follow suit with automatic insurance capture. 

Insurance card scan technology could resolve many of the challenges surrounding receiving and entering patient information and insurance information, as well as providing automatic verification of active and accurate insurance. 

Not only does incorporating AI in such a way save billions of dollars and hundreds of hours of wasted administrative time, but it also helps patients to have a more realistic understanding of their financial responsibilities for medical procedures. 

Particularly with the rapid spread of the use of telemedicine, now more than ever, it’s vitally important for our processes to catch up to the methods and technologies available to us. Certainly there are many jobs that still require human intuition and manual operations, but generally speaking, insurance intake, verification, and claim filing isn’t one of them. 

Many other industries are already on board with the use of AI and certainly the healthcare industry isn’t one that should be left behind. For efficiency, accuracy, and even patient well being, automatic insurance capture is the future.

Insurance Capture & Verification Automation Matters More Than Ever
Source: OrbitHC

Adam Hansen
 

Adam is a part time journalist, entrepreneur, investor and father.