NetCom Introduces Real Time Patient Eligibility Check for Medical Practices

Feb. 8, 2010 - PRLog -- Netcom, a New York based data transaction processing company announces the introduction of realtime eligibility verification and pre-treatment payment for medical practices.  “Underinsured will surpass the uninsured as healthcare's biggest headache” according to a recent study by PricewaterhouseCoopers.  “Combined with physicians’ inability to correctly determine eligibility prior to treatment, the losses to individual practices can be staggering” says Ron Katz, President of Netcom.

“With growing unemployment, self-pay is becoming a major part of providers' revenue cycle processes,” says Dr. Katz.  “Practices need to efficiently pre-qualify patients or pay an unacceptable financial price.  But for most practices, the process is too time consuming and creates a huge bottleneck.”  Net PaymentNow™ provides an internet based 3 to 6 second solution for verifying eligibility, determining current co-pays, and actual insurance coverage. Where there is a gap in coverage, Net PaymentNow™ provides patients with direct checking, debit and credit card payment options prior to receiving treatment

According to Scott Greene, NetCom’s Vice-President in charge of eligibility and claims transactions, “We guarantee our eligibility response with over 2000 payers, and if it is ever wrong, we handle the insurance claim for the practice at no charge and reimburse the copay at our expense.”

The Net PaymentNow™ product reduces registration errors and lack of insurance verification, confirms that subscriber information is correct and complete before claims are submitted.  It also establishes co-payment and coinsurance amounts to facilitate collection.  Since the physician knows prior to treatment the amount of any shortfall, Net PaymentNow™ establishes immediate payment arrangements which eliminate dreaded post-visit billing.

“Verifying patient eligibility is always the first step in successfully managing the claim
revenue cycle process,” says Greene. “If you check eligibility by phone, you will only be able to verify patient coverage for as many patients as staff time allows. Our eligibility responses are presented in a consistent, easy-to-read format. All information is organized so staff can quickly find the information without having to hold on the line or wade through pages of randomly arranged information at an individual payor’s web site.  Greene adds, “All our information is displayed in a consistent format regardless of the payer.”

“With the elimination of the need to log on and off from multiple payer websites,” Katz points out that practices obtain “real time eligibility in one place.  “We “normalize” all information so that it is presented in the same, consistent and easy-to-read format for every payer.”

NetCom Data Corp. of New York has been processing financial and authorization transactions since 1989.  With customers in all parts of the U.S., NetCom was the first U.S. company to provide ADA compliant point-of-sale transaction hardware and software.  

Information at:  http://usnetcom.us/page5.html

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About Netcom: By becoming one of the first companies in the United States to eliminate manual authorizations and paper financial transactions over two decades ago, U.S. Netcom assumed a leadership role in the electronic transaction industry. Later advances in improving accuracy, automating claims, providing patient payment alternatives, minimizing labor intensive tasks, and providing high speed transactions have helped medical practices, hospitals, and IPAs reduce receivables and increase revenue.