Chapter 6: ISDN in Medicine and Health Care

Electronic Claims Processing

The insurance industry processes more than 200 billion claims for medical care each year - more than 90 percent still submitted on paper. Yet a number of Blue Cross and Blue Shield offices nationwide have shown that medical claims received in electronic form are not only significantly less expensive to handle, but can be processed much more quickly and accurately.

Typical results from their controlled tests indicate that electronic claims processing could in fact save as much as 30 cents a claim - or a potential savings of some $50-60 billion a year.

"ISDN is the first step towards better, more accurate, faster health care" says Len De Paolo, vice president of marketing at Communications Planning & Services. "ISDN is also the first step towards saving enormous amounts of money in the process. Many of the systems are already in place: what we need now is the will to make it happen."