This issue is a complex one. I spent 3 years consulting in the healthcare industry until finally getting out of it!

The problem is the problem. Each insurance carrier wants to do things their own way. They want to ensure that filing is complicated so that adjudication systems will deny insurance claims or have to be re-filed. Anyone who has worked in the industry know how much of an evil system adjudications are.

Insurance companies will fight and fight and so far have been winning the battles. Small doctors’ offices can't afford new computers or outrageously priced practice management systems (PMSes).

I saw the nightmare that HIPAA created and I don't see how the government is ever going to get this fixed. There are standards, mostly based on Medicare, but there is huge resistance to use them because profits are hurt in moving to them.

I once asked why doctors don't fight the insurance companies and was told that they are too busy fighting for patient rights and they believe that there is no way to beat the insurance company lobbyists in congress.

Thank god I am not working in that industry anymore.

FDB