Health regulations may save 9B with electronic fund transfers

NJBIZ STAFF//August 10, 2012//

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The regulations are designed to continue encouraging physicians to move away from paper records into the digital age.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced new health care reform regulations to encourage $9 billion in savings over 10 years through electronic records.

The rules standardize online enrollment in electronic fund transfers, reducing administrative costs and speeding the time it takes to reconcile accounts. There is a time limit on when payers must transfer funds to providers.

The goal is to move doctors and hospitals away from paper checks and hand-entered balance sheet reconciliations to a more automated process.

The compliance date for the new rules is Jan. 1, 2014, when many of the other Affordable Care Act provisions are implemented.

Sebelius said the new rules “ensure doctors spend more time seeing patients and less time filling out forms.”