<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/b><\/p>\n
TUESDAY, Feb. 20, 2018 (HealthDay News) — The estimated costs of billing range from $20 for a primary care visit to $215 for an inpatient surgical procedure, according to a study published in the Feb. 20 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Phillip Tseng, from the Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C., and colleagues estimated the administrative costs associated with physician billing in a large academic health care system using data from interviews conducted with 27 health system administrators and 34 physicians in 2016 and 2017.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that the estimated processing time and total costs for billing and insurance-related activities were 13 minutes and $20.49, 32 minutes and $61.54, 73 minutes and $124.26, 75 minutes and $170.40, and 100 minutes and $215.10 for a primary care visit, a discharged emergency department visit, a general inpatient stay, an ambulatory surgical procedure, and an inpatient surgical procedure, respectively. The corresponding time and costs for activities carried out by physicians were estimated at a median of three minutes or $6.36, three minutes or $10.97, five minutes or $13.29, 15 minutes or $51.20, and 15 minutes or $51.20. Professional billing costs were estimated to represent 14.5, 25.2, 8.0, 13.4, and 3.1 percent of professional revenue, respectively, for the five patient encounters.<\/p>\n
“Knowledge of how specific billing and insurance-related activities contribute to administrative costs may help inform policy solutions to reduce these expense,” the authors write.<\/p>\n
Two authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical and health care industries.<\/p>\n
Abstract\/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)<\/a><\/p>\n Editorial (subscription or payment may be required)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/i><\/p>\n