Louisville, Ky.-based Humana Inc. is the first health insurer to commit to support Project SwipeIT, a new initiative to standardize machine-readable health insurance identification cards by 2010.
The Medical Group Management Association, Englewood, Colo., recently launched Project SwipeIT. MGMA believes the cards could save insurance providers up to $1 billion a year by reducing unnecessary administrative work and denied claims.
Humana has tested ID swipe card technology in Florida. Some practices participating in the tests had more than a 50% cut in manual keystroke errors and cut denied transactions in half.
More information on the initiative is available at swipeit.org.