COLUMBIA, S.C., April 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Three years after launching its Internet claims service for physicians, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina processed its 1 millionth commercial Internet claim today.
The landmark claim came in on Wednesday from Family Practice Associates, Holly Hill, S.C., and was filed for the practice by Vicki Lewis. The physicians at this practice are Robert W. Rhame Jr. MD, and Steven F. Bull, MD.
"We love filing our claims through the BlueCross Web site and generally submit batches of claims at the close of each day," said RuthAnn Hritz, assistant office manager at Family Practice Associates. "We use the immediate, real time claims processing option and really like the immediate results we receive. We were also impressed with the improvement that the Web claims submission made to our cash flow." She also noted that they use the online member eligibility lookup and the provider directory.
Average turnaround from claims entry to reimbursement check production is less than 10 days. A total of 2,675 South Carolina practices submitted claims over the Internet in 2003.
"With this service, medical and dental practices get real time processing and can update their accounts receivable immediately, rather than waiting days for the mail to arrive," said Dr. John Little, BlueCross vice president for healthcare services. "A lot of physicians tell us this makes a huge difference in their cash flow."
BlueCross was one of the first insurers nationwide to provide Internet claims processing. Medical practices and hospitals serving patients with insurance from BlueCross BlueShield, Companion HealthCare, the State of South Carolina Health Plan and the Federal Employees Program can go to http://www.southcarolinablues.com/ or http://www.companionhealthcare.com/ and submit claims, including primary and secondary claims, through the secure My Insurance Manager(SM) section.
The service is free and this method of claims submission is compliant with HIPAA, a federal act governing privacy and electronic transactions in healthcare.
Headquartered in Columbia, S.C., BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina ( http://www.southcarolinablues.com/ ) is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
SM is a service mark of BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina
BlueCross BlueShield of South CarolinaCONTACT: Elizabeth Hammond for BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina,+1-803-264-4626, or Elizabeth.Hammond@bcbssc.com