Healthcare identified as a key market where payments processing costs are dramatically high

  • $9 per manual transaction versus 80 cents if automated

During a recent webcast hosted by BillingTree on the subject of the Credit Card Act and its implications for the payments industry, panelist Ksenya Medvedev, Director of Operations for CheckAlt at Skyline’s DirectFED Payment Solutions, pinpointed the healthcare industry as a market where billing and payments processing carry punitive processing costs and where a growth in e-payments would have a significant beneficial impact.

She told attendees that the cost to process a manual claim and issue a paper check is approximately $9 but completing the payment process using an automated system costs on average 80 cents per claim – a dramatic reduction in costs.

BillingTree has identified the healthcare sector as one of the key markets that e-billing and payments can have a positive impact.

"Healthcare is set to become even more complex as the new Healthcare Act takes effect. According to a recent report by McKinsey & Co. analysts, payments administration already accounts for in excess of 15 percent of US healthcare costs, with bill payments, processing expenditure, bad debt and other transactions adding up to more than $300 billion per year, highlighting the sheer amount of money lost through inefficient billing and payments processes," commented Scott McCollum, President, BillingTree.

"With 60 percent of healthcare transactions still executed using manual paper-based billing and payment methods, it is unsurprising that it can take up to 60 or 90 days for the healthcare provider to actually receive payment for services rendered. It is in this area that Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) solutions such as those provided by BillingTree can help to significantly help to streamline the process and reduce the cost associated with billing and processing payments for healthcare providers.

"By automating the transactional process, healthcare providers greatly accelerate the payments process for both consumers and healthcare providers, allowing real-time verification of funds and significantly reducing the currently labor intensive operational process currently in place."

BillingTree's webcast was attended by over 70 executives from a mix of industries in particular from the Healthcare and Utilities markets. It is the first of a series of webcasts BillingTree will be giving around key payments issues during 2010.

Click here for replay of the webcast on the implications of the Credit Card Act

Contact
Dave Yohe
Corporate Marketing
BillingTree
Tel: 602 443 5948
dave@mybillingtree.com

Manuela Whittaker
PR for BillingTree
Tel: 561 228 1940
mwhittaker@iba-international.com


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