ABSTRACT
Recently, Healthcare Financial Management contacted five EDI experts to discuss a variety of issues related to EDI and the healthcare industry. Their answers to our questions, presented below, are both optimistic and realistic. Our experts feel that EDI can transform the healthcare industry into a model of efficiency, but their enthusiasm is tempered by the realization that politics, bureaucracy, budgets, and resistance to change can take a toll on even the most ardent of EDI supporters. Nevertheless, they believe that EDI can and will work. In the pages that follow, they discuss why, how, and when.
Subject(s)
Computer Communication Networks/trends , Insurance Claim Reporting/trends , Attitude of Health Personnel , Efficiency , Hospital Administrators , Program Development , United StatesABSTRACT
Electronic data interchange (EDI)--computerized transmission of business documents over telephone lines--holds promise for improving the flow of claims information between healthcare payers and providers. Draft format standards now under development and scheduled for release later this year are turning the EDI focus to electronic payments to healthcare providers. Along with potential cash flow improvements, EDI remittance applications may help healthcare facilities achieve cost savings by eliminating cash processing steps and assigning some business office staff members to other duties.
