Accelerate Medicare Claims with Automatic Package Tracking
Posted on Fri, Apr 24, 2009 @ 01:54 PM
Providing Proof-of-Delivery data is a critical challenge that many HME/DME (Home & Durable Medical Equipment) suppliers face. Proof-of-Delivery (POD) data is often required in order to receive payments for Medicare claims.
In many cases, timely claims processing depends on the HME/DME supplier's ability to provide proof that a package was delivered to a patient (or customer). The faster this process can be completed, the more quickly claim payments can be received. So, naturally, any automation that can be applied to this process is beneficial.
Carrier provided shipping systems such as UPS Worldship and FedEx Ship Manager are not capable of automatically tracking shipments and posting proof-of-delivery results back into your database.
The two most common solutions are (1) a custom tracking solution or (2) a third-party shipping system. In both cases, the automatic tracking must also result in either storing the results in your order management or other host system or by generating reports or export (Excel) files.
Some third-party shipping systems can automatically track every package shipped routinely until every package is delivered. As the results are updated, they should be able to automatically post the delivery date, time, signed for by, etc information back into your business system. Tracking results are generally also available from search screens within the shipping software and in reports and export files that can be generated by the shipping system.
When Medicare claims processing is problematic due to slow and manual Proof-of-Delivery processing, the cost for a third-party shipping system can be quickly and easily justified.