One of the primary virtues of banking technology is its capacity to eliminate paper-based transactions, something health care desperately needs to do, Mr. Wilkins said. “Ninety-five percent of current payments to providers and explanations of benefits are still done on paper. That's crazy! It's a staggering amount of paper, and much of this can be computerized.”
He estimated that it costs banks about $1 per paper check or provider remittance advice form, roughly $30 for each voided and reissued paper check, and about $5 per phone call to see what's wrong in a given transaction. Universal electronic claims could save up to $35 billion for health care providers and $1 billion for health care plans.
Mr. Gandolfo said savings on this order are very, very real. A large health care provider group that implemented PNC's E-Healthcare platform realized $2.9 million in annual cost avoidance, and 64% time savings in its accounts receivables. Electronic funds transfers reduced the average time from claims submission to payment by 43%, from 49 days down to 28 days. The average time to make claims adjustments improved by 29%.
The health care congress was sponsored by the Wall Street Journal and CNBC.