You may also want to consider some type of FTP (File Transfer Protocol) in which key patient demographic/insurance data elements can be electronically uploaded from one billing system to another. I am fortunate to have a local technical guru who can build these interface "engines" (at a cost, of course) but it sure beats relying on faxes, couriers, copying face sheets and other labor-intensive tasks to obtain this critical information for the billing process. Plus it's fast, can be run automatically through scripting (for example, upload all patient demographic info from the practice management system to the billing system I use, at say, midnight each day) and your new patient data and/or changed established patient data is available the next morning. Of course, you have to test this process thoroughly and have a secure VPN but in the long run it can save a ton of time, especially if you're processing a high-volume type of practice. I personally hate to "re-key" something that already exists in some dark corner of an existing database!
