The manual system though seemingly to be less expensive will involve a higher staff cost for sending a claim, processing payments and rejections, and generating management reports. Each time the staff creates a handwritten claim, it costs up to four times the amount of staff time than to generate a new bill from an electronic billing system. A manually driven system is labor intensive. The biggest advantage to electronic billing is that the speed of claim processing is 50 to 66 percent faster. If you select strategy one, claims can be submitted electronically but all payment posting is manual.
Management reports are also computerized and can be generated regularly with little effort.
The more sophisticated features of electronic billing would include using the Internet for claim submission and staff training, using scanners for remittance advice cataloging and using the computer's fax to send resubmission of claims. This, however, is not the shoestring approach. With careful planning and system considerations, the cost to a medical practice is minimal while the return on the investment maximum. Train your office staff. Network and develop relationships.