used for employee paychecks). The transaction, which carries a flat fee of approximately $0.34 per payment, regardless of payment amount, enables easy reconciliation of payments to corresponding remittance information when used in conjunction with the era standard. as of january 1, 2014, all health plans must offer this payment method if requested by physicians. In order to obtain eFT payments, physician practices must contact their health plans and complete an eFT enrollment form. Once a physician has completed this form with a specific plan, all future payments from the plan must be processed using aCH-eFT. In order to streamline this enrollment process, the Council for affordable Quality Healthcare (CaQH) offers CaQH solutions, a tool that allows providers to simultaneously enroll in eFT with numerous payors. P otential savings can only be realized if electronic payment is implemented effectively by physicians. American Medical Association (AMA) Recommendations In light of these differences between the main electronic payment forms, the ama recommends that physician practices and their billing partners take the following steps in order to ensure efficient electronic payment of claims: 1. REGISTER FOR ACH-EFT PAYMENTS. Due to the automated payment delivery and minimal cost, the ama believes that aCHeFT payments are the most beneficial form of payment for physician practices. In order to realize these efficiencies, physicians need to proactively contact their health plans (particularly those with whom they have substantial business) and request HIPaastandard aCH-eFT payments. 2. BE AWARE OF RESTRICTIONS IN PAYMENT METHODS WHEN CONTRACTING WITH HEALTH PLANS. even though HIPaa requires health plans to make eFT payments available upon request, health plans may attempt to require other payment methods, such as VCC, within their contracts with physicians. Physicians need to be cognizant of any restrictions and avoid signing contracts with inflexible payment terms. 3. EDUCATE PRACTICE STAFF. although a physician may decide not to accept VCCs and intend to transition to aCH-eFT, the parties responsible for processing incoming payments must understand the issue. additionally, if a practice staff processes both patient and health plan payments, they need to know how to differentiate between patient and health plan credit card payments to avoid authorization of VCC payments from health plans. Other Concerns and Resources as physicians transition to aCH-eFT, it is important for them to understand the rights that the corresponding HIPaa regulation bestows upon their practice. since the eFT HIPaa regulation went into effect, some health plans are attempting to charge excessive fees for eFT payments or otherwise failing to comply with regulations. as a result, the ama created “Know Your rights and make aCH-eFT Work for Your Practice,” a resource designed to help physicians understand their rights in order to make aCH-eFT work most efficiently for their practice. additionally, in order to help physicians, billing professionals, office staff, and other healthcare professionals understand these emerging payment models, the ama offers an archived webinar that walks through the evolution of payment methods, details emerging electronic payments, and provides an outline as to the best ways for physicians and their staff to transition to payment methods that increase the efficiency of their practices. The archived webinar, along with information on VCCs and other eFT resources, is available via the ama eFT Toolkit at http://www.ama-assn.org/go/eft. The AMA offers a variety of other tools to assist physicians and their billing partners in electronic transaction implementation. Visit the AMA Administrative Simplification Initiatives website at www.ama-assn.org/go/simplify for additional information and resources. THe jOurNal OF THe HealTHCare BIllINg aND maNagemeNT assOCIaTION 29
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