BUSINESS

To track benefit statements, Texas group calls the bank

A group and its bankers come up with a system that scans insurer statements and stores them electronically, helping the practice track collections.

By Katherine Vogt, AMNews staff. May 5, 2003.

The Medical Clinic of Houston was buried in mountains of paperwork generated by payments from insurance companies. Controller Bill Maak turned to an unlikely source to help dig out.

Maak went to the 40-physician clinic's bank and asked if it could scan information from the reams of paperwork sent with each payment so the data could be gleaned and stored electronically.

From his brainchild, the bank developed a service designed to track collections from insurance companies and better manage the reams of information sent with each payment, easing the burden on physicians and their practices and improving customer service for patients.

The bank scans data from payments and accompanying explanations of benefits into a program. A file of data for each EOB is created and returned to the physician or practice for uploading into their systems. The data can then be electronically searched without sifting through piles of paperwork. It therefore speeds up the amount of time it takes to post payments to the internal medicine practice.

Additionally, the scanned EOB is burned onto a CD-ROM, cutting down on space needed for records storage and making it easier to retrieve archived information later.

"Our patients are getting a timely statement, and if the patients have to ask questions, our financial counselors are able to respond a lot faster,'' Maak said. "We want [physicians] to practice medicine and not have to worry about patient complaints on their statements.''

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