Health and Human Services (HHS) announced in August the release of a new rule (Administrative Simplification: Adoption of Operating Rules for Health Care Electronic Funds Transfers and Remittance Advice Transactions) that should cut red tape for doctors, hospitals and health plans.
The rule builds upon industry-wide healthcare electronic fund-transfer (EFT) standards that HHS adopted in January 2012. Together, the previously issued EFT standards and the new EFT and electronic remittance advice (ERA) operating rule are projected to save between $2.7 billion and $9 billion in administrative costs over a 10-year period by reducing inefficient manual administrative processes.
The new rule requires insurers to offer a standardized, online enrollment for EFT and ERA. Health plans are required to send the EFT within a certain amount of days of the ERA, which helps providers reconcile their accounts more quickly.
The compliance date is Jan. 1, 2014.
Source: HHS
