As part of its focus on creating innovative solutions for the healthcare market, today at the Healthcare Financial Management Association's (HFMA) 2005 Annual National Institute, Bank of America announces that it has entered into an agreement with HealthLogic Systems Corporation (HLSC) to deliver a new service for healthcare providers.
The new service automates Explanation of Benefit (EOB) data capture and delivers it in a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) - compliant file to enable healthcare providers to post and process remittance payments quicker and to expedite cash application.
The service addresses current payment challenges that healthcare providers face such as EOB data extraction, claims matching and HIPAA compliance. To date, most traditional lockbox image platforms have not been able to provide an automated solution to client requirements for EOB data capture. With the new Bank of America service, hospitals, labs and larger doctor practices are able to leverage automated data capture capabilities to expedite cash applications, reduce error rates in data capture, reduce expenses associated with manual data entry and payment/claim matching, automate matching receivables cash applications, and permit single billing. In addition, the service offers an expedient image file, creating an efficient solution for the healthcare industry.
"Healthcare providers today face many challenges in trying to achieve workflow efficiencies while still maintaining HIPAA compliance," said Catherine Warren, healthcare industry strategist for Bank of America Global Treasury Services (GTS). "As a top lender in the healthcare market and the number one provider of lockbox services, Bank of America is in the unique position to understand the challenges these providers face and to create technology solutions that best address their needs. Our new service is a perfect example of our dedication to this market as it helps our clients improve availability, reduce error rates in data capture and operational costs and eliminate paper-based processing - all while maintaining HIPAA compliance."
Bank of America offers three expanded data capture solutions: Patient- level capture, Patient Plus and Proprietary data capture.
How it works
At Bank of America Lockbox Operations, checks and associated detail are scanned and images are created. Correspondence items (items received without a payment) are also scanned and images are created. By using image technology to process this payment information, data entry operators no longer key data, reducing error rates and operational costs.
An image file of checks and documents is then transmitted to HLSC where a HIPAA-compliant file is created and sent back to the client.
Clients may view lockbox images and payment detail on a Web-based image archive for one year, and view 45 days worth of check and remittance images on Receipts Direct. Clients may also view information reporting via Receipts Online and Bank of America will create CD ROMs to be delivered to the client.
"We believe our new service will help us to meet the needs expressed by our healthcare industry clients," said Aileen Gleason, Bank of America executive for U.S. Receipts Products. "They are a critical component of our lockbox client base and we are committed to bringing solutions to the market that achieve their goals. In addition to the new functionality, we are able to offer premium availability through our lockbox network because we are the number one check clearing financial institution in the U.S."
The new service is currently being piloted with several customers with full rollout scheduled for July.