Across the nation, efforts are underway to identify and deploy breakthrough strategies to reduce the costs of administrative complexity in healthcare.
The Healthcare Administrative Simplification Coalition (HASC) is a private/public partnership that supports a broad range of activities to reduce the costs of administrative complexity.
HASC’s efforts are part of a larger groundswell of action across the nation to streamline healthcare administration:
- The Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration prescribed the use of the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare (CAQH) credentialing application by insurers and hospitals starting Jan. 1, 2007.
- The Committee on Operating Rules for Information Exchange (CORE), launched by CAQH, gives providers access to eligibility and benefits information before or at the time of service using the electronic system of their choice for any patient or health plan. View a presentation about CORE
- Baylor Health Care System plans to spend millions of dollars to install patient self-service kiosks and other technology to automate and streamline the patient registration process at all of its locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area starting in 2007.
- A survey conducted in 2007 by the CAQH suggests that using automated systems could significantly reduce the administrative costs to verify patient insurance eligibility and benefits information.
- The Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange has proposed a standard for healthcare identification cards based on the two-dimensional bar code technology already used on the back of many states’ drivers’ licenses.
- Colorado in 2007 enacted sweeping legislation (Senate Bill 79) to require the use of standard terms in all contracts between healthcare providers and health plans.
- The 2007-2008 session of the Ohio Legislature is considering a bill that mandates payers make eligibility information available via electronic data interchange or a Web portal. The bill also would require the use of standard terms in payer-provider contracts and deem CAQH credentialing forms the standard for use in the state.
- Texas Governor Rick Perry on May 25, 2007, signed a bill that would give health plans an opportunity to embrace smart-card technology that would reduce administrative costs for physicians, patients and, ultimately, health plans.
What are you doing?
Tell HASC what your organization, city, county or state is doing to reduce the costs of administrative complexity in healthcare.
