The Jordan Medical Association (JMA) has said that the digital healthcare platform Hakeem has been integrated with the national billing system, so that doctors billing insurers is now automatic once an insurance claim is filed.
Under Hakeem, doctors connect electronically to the national billing system and reduce the operational burden of billing medical insurance claims, reported Petra News Agency, citing a JMA statement.
The JMA noted that Hakeem has linked the online claim platforms of several insurance providers and third-party administrators to the national billing system. Hakeem is currently working to connect the remaining platforms of other health insurance entities, with completion expected before the end of this month.
Hakeem is a platform that allows physicians, pharmacists, medical technologists, and other clinicians to electronically access the medical records of a patient in participating healthcare facilities across Jordan by entering the patient's national ID number.
Hakeem, billed as the first national digital transformation initiative of its kind in Jordan’s healthcare sector, is the flagship programme of Electronic Health Solutions (EHS), a technology-driven, private, non-profit company that provides automated solutions to enhance the quality and efficiency of healthcare services in Jordan.
The JMA signed an agreement with EHS in June on Hakeem to provide a claim billing solution.
Billing of claims
EHS has allowed for consolidated billing of claims from April, May and June, in line with an exemption granted by the Income and Sales Tax Department for those months. It also enables physicians to issue detailed electronic bills retroactively, wef 1 July, with a single click, in compliance with the Department’s requirement for detailed billing from that date onward.
The EHS has also introduced mechanisms for billing uninsured patients and self-funded funds such as unions, banks, and universities. It further provides a process for entering and billing inpatient claims directly for doctors who prefer to claim from insurers without going through hospitals.
Additionally, the EHS offers a hospital billing system to help doctors collect dues from hospitals and created an electronic mechanism to automatically issue return invoices for amounts deducted by insurance companies and insurance management firms from doctors’ claims.
More than 600 doctors have activated the service to date, with over 40,000 invoices processed automatically that otherwise would have required manual billing, the JMA said.
The medical association urges doctors to swiftly join and activate the electronic link with the national billing system through the Hakeem platform.
In 2009, EHS launched Hakeem, which aims to facilitate efficient, high-quality healthcare in the Kingdom through the nationwide implementation of an electronic health record (EHR) solution.
The medical information clinicians may access includes, but is not limited to, the following: comprehensive medical and surgical history, physical examinations, procedural and surgical reports, current medications, allergies, as well as inpatient and outpatient clinic visit notes. In addition, it will provide online access to laboratory results, digital radiological exams, electrocardiograms (ECGs), endoscopic biopsies, eye exams, and videos of echocardiograms and angiograms.