What are the benefits of real-time technology in the health insurance industry?
The area that will benefit the most is claims processing, which is the single most important area of customer service for health insurance companies. Real-time access to insurance claim status information has been around for some time to a greater or lesser degree. However, the latest trend in improved customer service is to provide information as to how the claim will be processed (or “adjudicated”) and how much financial liability the customer (policyholder) will have to bear, in real-time, before the claim is formally submitted. The benefits are significant: advanced planning, selection between related services, selection of service providers and reduction of callbacks to the insurer (to see how their request for information is doing), to name a few. Insurance companies will benefit through increased staff productivity (reduction in multiple calls to and from the member while the information request is being processed), increased revenue through customer retention and new customers
