“LAST year I had to have a minor biopsy. Every time I went in for an appointment, I had to fill out a form requiring my name, address, insurance information, emergency contact person, vaccination history, previous surgical history and current medical problems, medications and allergies. I must have done it four times in just three days. Then, after my procedure, I received bills — and, even more annoying, statements of charges that said they weren’t bills — almost daily, from the hospital, the surgeon, the primary care doctor, the insurance company.
Imagine that repeated millions of times daily and you have one of the biggest money wasters in our health care system. Administration accounts for roughly 14 percent of what the United States spends on health care, or about $360 billion per year. […]
There is nothing more infuriating than needless paperwork that wastes tens of billions of dollars. Banks, Fed Ex and scores of other businesses have eliminated paper bills and payments, and allow people to easily track transactions and packages online. It’s not brain surgery. Health insurance billing can also be brought into the Internet era.”
—Ezekiel J. Emanuel: Billions Wasted on Billing
