FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 25, 1999

FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kelley Elwood, 312/580-6497

ISMS Hails Legislation That Will
Increase Focus on Patient Care, Relieve
Patient Billing Woes

Springfield - This week, the General Assembly passed two bills that will increase the time physicians can spend on patient care, while patients will be freed from insurance billing woes. HB 2713, Prompt Payment, passed yesterday and HB 1780, the Health Care Professional Credentialing Act, passed on Wednesday.

On May 20, lawmakers passed HB 2713, which requires insurance companies and HMOs to pay claims in a timely fashion. This will help both patients and physicians cut down on the time they spend dealing with medical bills.

"By requiring medical bills be paid in a timely fashion, neither patients nor physicians will have to deal with multiple bills," said Clair Callan, M.D., president of the Illinois State Medical Society (ISMS). "Physicians will also be able to better allocate their time and their staff’s time to providing patient care. Everyone wins." ISMS was the catalyst behind both bills.

HB 1780, which passed May 19, requires all health care plans – including Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) – to use standardized forms for credentialing and re-credentialing physicians who participate in their plans. Further, physician re-credentialing will only occur once every two years for all plans instead of continuously.

"Physicians and their staff spend a lot of time filling out multiple credentialing forms, all asking for the same basic information in different ways. Managed care has already put many restraints on our time. This bill will help eliminate duplications in our efforts and let us focus on what we do best, treat our patients," said Dr. Callan. "We encourage Governor Ryan to sign these bills into law."

ISMS is a professional membership organization representing 16,000 physicians, practicing in all specialties statewide.

ISMS permits and encourages reproduction of ISMS news releases with the request that ISMS is credited as the source of the information.