Bankers don’t make routine withdrawals and deposits, they have the ATM. Banks are not open late at night. ATMs are. Bankers don’t manually record inter-bank and intra-bank transfers. They have sophisticated EDI systems that make all the transfers, record all the deposits and withdrawals, and make all the payments.

However, Bankers DO make loans, they set up new accounts, and they do the research and solve problems that cannot be handled by the ATM or EDI system.

What does the Medical Office Manager have? Electronic claims filing with its clearinghouses, electronic scrubbers and computerized editors to check each claim against a myriad of “rules” and quickly get that claim to the insurance company. On the receiving end Electronic Claims Posting systems record payments with fanatic accuracy in a fraction of the time. Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) options get the money in the bank 7-10 days early and never forget to make the deposit.

If you are not sure about the Economics of Automation (getting your version of an ATM), do the MATH. For example, studies show it takes about 5 minutes to post a claim manually and less than 30 seconds to post a claim electronically including verification. Similar statistics are available for data conversions, database interfaces and electronic claims filing. Do your own study. Then do the math. The results will be compelling. Even without accounting for manual errors, the cost savings are obvious.

In a year or so those measurements will become even more compelling. Why? Claims filing rules are being added and made more complicated. The information required to maintain an average patient record is enormous compared to a few years ago and will continue to grow, and so on.

We can’t keep up manually. More is being demanded of good employees every day and that trend will continue. Good employees want meaningful jobs not mundane data entry work. Manual errors are more costly today than they were last year and will increase in cost next year. Reducing manual and redundant data entry, in any form, is paramount in the increasingly narrow field of comfortably profitable medical offices and clinics. 

The successful software vendor/reseller of today will have to embrace more integrated technology to remain viable in the immediate future.

In the late 1980’s fax machines began to be readily available in most large offices and some smaller offices. By the mid 1990’s fax machines were everywhere including many homes. A few years ago data conversions were seldom done in medium to small medical offices. Today they are increasingly demanded. With the advent of EMR systems, data conversions will become essential. It is beyond practicality to attempt a manual data conversion of an EMR or Image System. Many if not most medical offices file claims electronically but few post payments electronically. That is rapidly changing.

With all the computerized systems available now and growing in number almost daily, the wisdom of capturing data once and moving it electronically from system to system is fast becoming an economic necessity.

If your software company does not offer cost effective and accurate exchange of data between systems in all its varied forms, most of which have been covered in this series over the past few months, look for one that does. Your clients will demand it if they aren’t already.

Whether you are selling or buying computer software, the Economics of Automation point strongly in favor of adding automated systems and providing integration among all systems.

KW Norris

Vice President

Technology Consultants, Inc.

4125 SW 185th Avenue

Beaverton, OR 97006

503-356-4105 ext 11

503-939-9223 cell phone

503-356-4109 fax

kw@tech-consultants.com

www.tech-consultants.com

Mr. Norris is not an employee of InvestMed.  He co-founded Technology Consultants in 1995. Prior experience includes VP of Sales and Marketing for an IT recruiting firm, MIS Manager, IT Consultant and Software Developer. He earned a BS in Computer Science from Brigham Young University. He serves as Alumni Chairman in Portland and is active in fund raising for scholarships.