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MGMA survey finds about one out of six physician practices forced to pay fees for receiving electronic payments

MGMA survey finds about one out of six physician practices forced to pay fees for receiving electronic payments

MGMA STAT

Some health plans and their contracted payment vendors have sought to take advantage of physician practices by forcing them to pay fees to receive their payments for medical services via Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). These transaction fees typically range from 2-5% of the total medical services payment. As part of an effort in the Affordable Care Act to decrease healthcare administrative inefficiencies, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) mandated a standard EFT transaction and supporting operating rules and since 2014 health plans are required to offer EFT should providers request it.

A Sept. 5 MGMA Stat poll, with responses from more than 900 individuals, found that 17% of respondents indicated that their EFT payments from health plans came with a fee, with 50% saying there was no fee attached to the transaction. More than 32% indicated that they were unsure. Of those who responded yes to receiving fees for EFT payments, almost 60% stated that these health plans use a third-party payment vendor. Medical groups are forced to pay these EFT fees as CMS has yet to issue guidance preventing health plans and payment vendors from charging these fees.

“Even though health plans save money not printing and mailing paper checks, some bad actors are fleecing physician groups by charging them to simply receive an electronic paycheck,” stated Anders Gilberg, MGMA Senior Vice President, Government Affairs. “It is critical that CMS issue long-overdue guidance explicitly prohibiting this practice.”

The savings and benefits related to use of EFT for business and consumer payments are well established. Not only do health insurers save millions of dollars sending payments via EFT, for practices, the most common savings are in the ability to automate the reassociation of the electronic payment with the Electronic Remittance Advice, as well as savings in staff time to manually process and deposit paper checks. Beyond the material and administrative time savings for all sides, the time and resources that physician practices spend on billing and related tasks are better spent on delivering healthcare to patients.

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About the Author: Jeff Robertson, CMPE, FMC

Jeff Robertson, CMPE, FMC
A passion for Healthcare is the best way to describe Jeff Robertson. He has a unique, varied and extensive background in Healthcare that covers a wide array of experience encompassing 30 years. Jeff is board-certified by the MGMA as a Medical Practice Executive (CMPE) and Financial Management Certified (FMC) and a proud active MGMA member. Jeff is also an active member of the Healthcare Business Management Association (HBMA) and continues to keep his knowledge current and focused on future trends and initiatives and how they affect our clients and their Clinics. Jeff has been actively running the Revenue Cycle Management and Practice Management divisions since 1997. Jeff Robertson has spent over 27 years in Independent Physician Clinics with a special focus on Medical Billing/Revenue Cycle Management, Healthcare IT, Clinical Workflow Analysis, and Medical Bookkeeping and Financials for Independent Medical Practices. His passion for teaching, consulting, and finding a better, more efficient way to build processes into a clinic has led to him being labeled the “Practice Fixer.” To date, he has installed, configured, trained, and consulted over 400 Independent Physician Clinics across the country and has learned valuable lessons from each of them to share with all future clients.