The number of health insurance claims submitted electronically has tripled over the past decade, according to a survey by health insurance payor trade group America's Health Insurance Plans of Washington, DC.
In a survey of AHIP members, the group found that the percentage of health insurance claims submitted electronically was 75% in 2006, up from 44% in 2002. This compares to 40% of claims in 1999, 24% in 1995, and 2% in 1990.
Health insurance plans processed 98% of "clean" claims (those for which no additional information is needed) in 30 days or less, up from 94% in 2002. Just over two-thirds (68%) of all claims are adjudicated automatically -- this is, they were processed without manual intervention. Among electronic claims, 71% were adjudicated automatically in 2006, up from 49% in 2002.
Electronic claims processing is also reducing the cost of processing claims. The average cost of processing a clean electronic claim was 85¢, nearly half the $1.58 cost of processing a clean paper claim, according to the AHIP survey.
The survey was based on aggregated data from nearly 25 million claims processed by a total of 26 large and small health plans in the U.S.
By AuntMinnie.com staff writers
May 29, 2006
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