Previon can help you deliver your Medicare EOBs Electronically and Securely.
It’s One of Our Specialties!
Earth Week is the perfect time to identify additional ways to reduce your organization’s ecological footprint and increase its efficiency. For Medicare health plans, moving to electronic delivery of monthly Explanation of Benefits documents (EOBs) is a no-brainer, and not just because it’s good for the environment: it’s good for you and your members too! Many payers, including Kaiser Permanente, already offer patients the option to view their monthly EOBs electronically rather than receiving them in the mail, and Aetna recently announced that it “plans to transition to the exclusive use of…electronic EOB statements for all participating and non-participating providers by September 2022.”
Here are three reasons to add electronic EOBs to your Medicare/Medicaid member fulfillment program this year:
1) They’re Convenient and Easy to Access
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, most patients, including seniors, have discovered the benefits of communicating digitally with their healthcare providers. As John Kao, chief executive officer of Alignment Healthcare recently told McKinsey and Company, “seniors are more tech-enabled than ever before” and are more comfortable with telehealth and other forms of virtual healthcare. A recent study conducted by HIMMS revealed that “patients do want more digital communication… and that age continues to be less of a barrier to electronic forms of communication.” Specifically, the survey revealed that, even after the pandemic, “38% of those aged 50 and higher would prefer to communicate with healthcare providers via text message,” and “33 % of those aged 50 and higher are willing to switch providers” to one that takes advantage of modern communication methods. Why is this the case? These patients have discovered the convenience and immediacy of digital forms of communication with their healthcare providers, and they don’t want to return to pre-pandemic business as usual. By offering patients the option to receive electronic EOBs (E-EOBs), you are responding to their preference for easier and more convenient communication methods.
2) They’ll Reduce Administrative Costs
As more and more of your patients make the switch to electronic delivery of their EOBs, you’ll likely save many thousands of dollars in paper, printing, postage, and labor. In fact, the larger your current distribution of monthly paper EOBs, the more quickly you will recoup your up-front non-recurring investment in electronic EOB technology as your patients opt to go paperless. For example, Previon estimates that an organization that distributes 100,000 paper EOBs monthly, and that makes a non-recurring investment of $25,000 in the technology needed to provide E-EOBs, will recoup that investment in approximately four months, just in postage savings alone! And for an organization currently distributing 250,000 paper EOBs monthly and making the same up-front investment, the time that it will take to recover their investment could be reduced to under two months. Once you’ve recouped your up-front investment, you’re adding to your bottom line each month. Therefore, the sooner you get started with E-EOBs, the more you can save!
3) They’re Better for the Environment
In addition to being the preferred communication method for many patients and a means to reduce your costs, moving to paperless EOBs will help preserve our natural habitat in a variety of ways. According to Reader’s Digest’s “40 Facts that Will Make You Use Less Paper,” U.S. paper consumption currently eliminates 68 million trees per year, and the process of producing paper consumes valuable energy and water and contributes substantially to water and air pollution.
Ready to move to paperless EOBs? Previon is equipped and standing by to help.
As soon as CMS began allowing payers to deliver Medicare EOBs electronically, Previon began investing in the technology to support healthcare organizations wishing to employ this method. Our E-Delivery EOB fulfillment process is simple and user-friendly, both for your organization and your members:
- To each Medicare EOB recipient, Previon sends a personalized email containing a unique link to access their EOB online. We do not send EOBs as email attachments.
- When members use their provided links, they are required to log in to their health plan’s secure portal, and therefore their ePHI is protected.
- As soon as their login credentials are authenticated, the portal is configured to request and serve the E-EOB using a secure application programming interface (API).
Partner with Previon to transition to E-Delivered Medicare EOBs, to deliver the convenience your members want, reduce your costs and your environmental footprint.
Contact us today for a consultation!