To make matters worse, the applications didn't even do what Danyo wanted. Danyo found he wouldn't have to replace his existing PCs to run the system. Danyo is not alone. Mass. Besides doing away with reams of paper schedules, electronic schedulers help practices process insurance claims more quickly by confirming referral and eligibility requirements before the patient's visit, not weeks later when the payor kicks back an incomplete claim. Schedulers check patient eligibility by cross-referencing master insurance lists maintained in a central database or by connecting directly to payors via the Internet.
Some schedulers also offer analytical tools to help optimize physician time with patients.
And some can generate instructions to patients scheduled for a procedure so they don't, for example, eat a high-cholesterol breakfast just before arriving for a blood test. Of the two alternatives, Johnston says scheduling services bundled within a PMS is the best long-term choice because multiple applications can use a central database. As one member, James Greenberg, M.D., explains, independent practices usually have small IS budgets, so they stick with an investment once it's made. Now I feel we're ahead of it. The practice pays about 4 percent of its claims receivables in return for the service.