Report: Fully adopting transactions standards could save $9.8 billion a year

The U.S. health care system continues to make progress automating business transactions, but could save an additional $9.8 billion annually if providers and health plans fully adopted certain electronic transactions, according to the latest annual CAQH Index. Based on voluntary surveys of medical and dental health plans and providers, the index measures adoption, costs and provider labor time associated with common administrative transactions conducted between health plans and providers. These include verifying a patient’s insurance coverage, obtaining authorization for care, submitting a claim and supplemental medical information, and sending and receiving payments. The health care field “made progress on many fronts this year — in adoption of electronic transactions, reductions in the volume of manual transactions and reductions in the remaining savings opportunity,” the reports states. “However, continued efforts are needed to significantly reduce the volume of expensive, time-consuming manual transactions and adapt to the changing administrative needs of the health care system.”