PHILADELPHIA, PA and NEWPORT BEACH, CA (November 15, 2006) – InstaMed, a real-time gateway and processor of healthcare and payment transactions, announces that the patent pending InstaMed Platform now offers Integrated ERA/EFT, a seamless process for payers of any size to deliver electronic remittance and payment to their healthcare providers for any plan design and for any claim.
Integrated ERA/EFT completely eliminates paper, minimizes phone calls and cuts administrative costs for payers and providers. The transaction integrates an electronic remittance advice (ERA) with an electronic funds transfer (EFT) for coordinated timing, reliable delivery, simplified reconciliation and increased accuracy for claim payments. Until now, this process required a payer to use both a financial institution and a clearinghouse, which often leads to reconciliation issues for a provider, increased phone calls and no single point of accountability.
Susan Flynn, Chief Executive Officer of Vale-U-Health Physician Hospital Organization and Valley Health Administrators, a growing Third Party Administrator (TPA) located in Southwestern Pennsylvania, found InstaMed’s process “very streamlined and easy to implement within our provider network.” In addition, Flynn remarked about the increased satisfaction level of participating providers regarding “quicker, more immediate payments for medical services provided to our self-funded clients and best of all, the elimination of the postage expense to mail the checks and remittances to providers is a great cost savings for our TPA.”
Providers can receive a machine readable (HIPAA 835) or human readable ERA coordinated with an EFT to their designated bank account. Providers can easily print the ERA from their computer and securely store and retrieve it for document management and automated posting to their PMS/HIS system. This payment process is initiated and controlled by the payer and leverages the InstaMed Platform to manage the healthcare and payment transaction processing as well as the financial compliance requirements for handling provider bank account data.
Bill Marvin, President of InstaMed stated, “Payment automation is relevant for every line of a payer’s business, but especially for high deductible plans supporting consumer directed healthcare (CDH). The InstaMed Platform was built specifically for this purpose, and when it is combined with our provider relationship management capability, we can accelerate provider adoption for a payer. This new transaction puts us one step closer towards achieving our mission of simplifying the healthcare payment process.”
Integrated ERA/EFT supports all types of payments between a payer and a provider for all types of claims. InstaMed can quickly connect a payer to the InstaMed Platform with no system changes. ROI is immediate as savings begin with the first transaction. Provider enrollment and setup is simple, secure and convenient and managed by InstaMed along with provider training and customer service.