Insurers' 20% error rate costs $1.5B

Commercial health insurers have an average claims processing error rate of 19.3 percent, which leads to $1.5 billion in unnecessary administrative costs, writes FierceHealthcare editor Karen M. Cheung. New research from the American Medical Association (AMA) studied the increasing rate of inaccurate claims payments and found that insurers' error rate is up two percent from last year. "Health insurers must put more effort into paying claims correctly the first time to save precious healthcare dollars and reduce unnecessary administrative tasks that take time and resources away from patient care," said AMA Board Member Barbara L. McAneny. --To learn more, read the full article in FierceHealthcare