NEWS RELEASE

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) wrote to Chairmen Baucus (D-Mont.) and Harkin (D-Iowa) and Sen. Dodd (D-Conn.) to urge them to include administrative simplification measures already adopted in Minnesota as part of the national health care reform efforts.

“Doctors and nurses should spend their time and resources dealing with patients, not paperwork,” said Sen. Franken. “I’m proud that Minnesota has been a leader in simplifying administrative processes. If the nation follows our example, we can save this country billions.”

Because of the complexity of health care in this country, there are billions of administrative transactions between health care providers, payers, intermediaries, and vendors. Right now, these systems are not standardized, resulting in an unnecessary and costly burden on providers and patients. Physicians reported spending at least three hours weekly interacting with plans; nursing and clerical staff spend much larger amounts of time. When time is converted to dollars, clinical practices nationwide spend at least $23 billion to $31 billion each year on unwieldy interactions with health insurance companies.

In 2007, the Minnesota state legislature passed a law requiring all health care providers and payers to exchange health care administrative transactions electronically, and using a single standardized format. This legislation is estimated to save the state’s health care system more than $60 million per year.

Sen. Franken also called for greater coordination of anti-fraud resources, which are currently scattered throughout the public and private sectors. He will champion an anti-fraud amendment when the health care reform bill hits the Senate floor.

“Fraud undermines the integrity of the health care system, drains scarce resources, and forces up premiums,” said Sen. Franken. “Health reform will be incomplete without meaningful steps to attack fraud in health care.”

The FBI estimates that health care fraud may be as high as 10% of all health care expenditures, robbing the nation of over $220 billion annually.

Sen. Franken called for inter-agency collaboration to exchange expertise and best practices related to the analysis, detection, and prevention of fraud, waste, and abuse in health care.