Bay State doctors waited longest for MassHealth funds
Published: 2009-06-22 12:11:54
Author: Robert Weisman | Boston Globe | May 28, 2009
The state government Medicaid plan known as MassHealth, which covers low-income patients who can't afford insurance, was the slowest payer of health claims to Massachusetts doctors last year, averaging 56 days, and denied the highest share of claims, 23.8 percent, according to rankings set to be released today.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts took an average of 22.8 days to pay physicians who submitted claims last year, the fastest rate among Massachusetts health insurers, the rankings show. Tufts Health Plan, meanwhile, denied 4.9 percent of its claims, the smallest share among the five large payers billed by Bay State medical providers.
The rankings were prepared by Athenahealth Inc., a Watertown company that helps doctors handle billing and records electronically, in collaboration with the Physicians Practice management journal.
Athenahealth has been ranking insurers for four years, drawing from its database of more than 18,000 medical providers nationally, including about 2,500 in Massachusetts. This year's rankings come at a time when the medical community and lawmakers are focused on the Obama administration's healthcare reform proposals, which aim to slash US health costs by about $2 trillion over the coming decade.
Administrative costs stemming from interactions between healthcare providers and insurers are estimated to total $31 billion a year, a recent study by the Commonwealth Fund foundation and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's healthcare research organization reported.