Obama subsidises e-billing

Electronic Medical Records (EMR) software will be subsidised in the recently passed economic stimulus plan signed by US president Barrack Obama, reports PR Web.

The government is giving incentives to physicians who accept Medicare and Medicaid payments. A doctor is entitled to receive 75% of his total Medicare payments within a year or up to $15 000 for the first year, and $64 000 maximum over. However, only those who are meaningful EMR software users are eligible for such an incentive.

MedicalCharting.com offers a suite of Medisoft EMR software packaged with medical billing software, which it says physicians can use to run their practices more efficiently, saving costs from paper records and becoming eligible for the $15 000 EHR incentive.

State telecommunications operator Telekomunikasi Indonesia has invested Rp1.8 billion (R1.47 billion) in an electronic billing system to serve its subscribers in and around Jakarta, states Trading Markets.com

The regulator's billing and collection senior manager, Agus Kristiyono, says: "With the eBS, subscribers will hopefully receive their telecommunication service bills more quickly. So far, the bills have been sent to them through their home or office addresses.”

Last month, the number of subscribers who received their telecommunication service bills by e-mail reached 72 000, this number is expected to reach 300 000 by the end of the year.

Fiserv, a global provider of financial services technology solutions, has expanded its outsourcing deal with Ameren to streamline electronic billing and payment, says Trading Markets.com.

Chuck Bremer, CIO at Ameren, says: "Fiserv's expertise across both channels helps us successfully target customer billing communications to each individual in a cohesive manner. The partnership allows us to deliver a consistently branded message across both mail and electronic channels, without the cost and resources associated with handling these functions in-house."

Ameren's utility companies already rely on Fiserv for payment remittance and the distribution of electronic bills.