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Claims Submission Toolkit

Automate your claims process to cut back costs and hassles

Save thousands of dollars a year while relieving your practice staff of some of its most tedious and time-consuming tasks. Too good to be true? Not if you use electronic claims submissions. Automating your claims submission process can:

  • Minimize claim rejections and resubmissions
  • Deliver your claims to health insurers in real time
  • Expedite payer responses and boost your cash flow
  • Free up time for revenue-enhancing functions, such as ensuring correct payment
  • Reduce your claims submission costs by over 55%

Cost to submit manual claims: $6.63 x 6,200 = $41,106

Cost to submit electronic claims: $2.90 6,200 = $17,980

Annual savings per physician from automating claims submission: $23,126

* Based on an annual average of 6,200 claims submitted for a single physician. Source: Milliman, Inc., “Electronic Transaction Savings Opportunities for Physician Practices.” Technology and Operations Solutions. Revised: Jan. 2006

Calculate your potential savings: View Aetna’s EDI savings calculator

By reducing the manual processes in an office’s routine, physicians can free their practice staff to perform other revenue-enhancing functions. Access the following educational resources “Information technology solutions: consider the potential savings” and determine your practice’s potential savings.

The benefits of electronic claims submission – practice efficiencies to learn more

The AMA, in collaboration with the Connecticut State Medical Society, developed this resource to help physicians and their practice staff understand the electronic claim submission process, benefits, and offers tips on getting started with electronic claim submission.

Access the AMA resource “Understanding the HIPAA standard transactions: The HIPAA Transaction and Code Set rule” for an overview of electronic healthcare transactions.

View archived informational webinars

  • Beyond the Claim: HIPAA 5010 Administrative Simplification Opportunities to Positively Impact your Revenue Cycle Management
  • Claims and Claim Status Transactions: The Advantages of Going Electronic

View archived webinars

Evaluating your vendor's functionality

Take the brief Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Transaction Code Set Vendor Survey to easily find out whether your vendors can process electronic claims and other healthcare transactions. 

Visit 5010 electronic administrative transactions for more information on assessing 5010 readiness.

Evaluating your practice’s situation

Considerations for processing electronic transactions in the physician practice”offers specific scenarios of how your practice might adopt electronic claims submissions, and provides additional considerations for your specific situation.

Access health insurer online resources

Visit www.ama-assn.org/go/payerpolicies to access online resources from health insurers to help you move towards practice automation.

Case study: How much can you save?

The suite of electronic health care transactions are designed to work together to create greater efficiencies for both physicians and health insurers. By adopting an integrated approach to using the electronic health care transactions, information gained from one transaction becomes useful information in the next transaction.

  • Did you know that the increased use of electronic health care transactions in your practice, such as the electronic eligibility benefit inquiry and response transactions, has the potential to save physicians and health insurers nearly $30 billion per year? [1]

Access this case study to learn more about the savings your practice can experience using electronic health care transactions.



[1] U.S. Healthcare Efficiency Index, www.ushealthcareindex.com

Questions to ask before enrolling in an electronic healthcare transactions program

Questions to ask a health insurer before enrolling in an electronic transactions program” outlines key issues with using electronic claims submissions that you need to carefully consider.

Questions to ask a billing service before enrolling in an electronic transactions program” provides key questions to discuss with your billing service to understand how it can assist you in using electronic claims submissions.

Questions to ask a clearinghouse before enrolling in an electronic transactions program” provides key questions to discuss whether your clearinghouse provides satisfactory functionality for electronic claims submissions.

AMA HIPAA Complaint Form

Use the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) complaint form to inform the AMA about health insurers and other payers that are out of compliance with the HIPAA electronic transaction and code set standards.

Knowledge Center
Get expert advice when you need it. The AMA-PMC team is here to help members and their staff with issues and concerns.
LinkedIn Discussion Group
Join discussions in the AMA Practice Efficiency & Management LinkedIn Group.