It's easy to find discussions of electronic invoicing. Kiplinger's says that 77% of consumers now use an EIPP system. E-billing is being hailed as the next big thing in customer convenience, an essential part of a green office, and the answer to security and staffing woes.

While it's easy to find these discussions, it isn't always easy to understand what they're talking about. If you're new to the concept, you may run into some terms that aren't completely familiar. Since businesspeople with a broad range of backgrounds can successfully use online invoicing, you might want to read about the topic without having the kind of vocabulary the writers have. Here's a glossary of the common terms. This should make it easier to join discussions of the value of electronic invoicing, even if you're not a specialist.

• AP: accounts payable, money owed by the company.
• AR: accounts receivable, money owed to the company.
• B2B: business to business, referring to companies that sell goods ad services to other businesses, rather than to end consumers.
• Bank aggregator: a service that allows a consumer to pay bills to multiple companies, often the consumer's bank.
• Biller-direct: a service that allows a business to provide electronic invoices to their customers. Consumers visit the company's website or portal to make the payment. Onsharp's SmartPay is an example of this type of service.
• CSP: customer service provider. A company that provides EBPP services, such as SmartPay.
• DSO: days sales outstanding, or the average amount of time between a sale and the collection of the money due for the sale. E-invoicing reduces DSO.
  
• EBPP: electronic bill presentment and payment, referring most often to business-to-consumer uses.
• EDI: electronic data interchange, systems for sending information electronically. SmartPay's web-based system allows businesses http://www.onsharp.com/blog/to do their invoicing electronically without EDI.
• EIPP: electronic invoice presentment and payment. Similar to EBPP, but referring more to business-to-business uses.
• IFX: interactive financial exchange, an open standard for financial data exchange currently being developed.
• Portal: an entryway to the web. A secure portal, such as that provided by SmartPay, allows users to send information online without being open to ordinary, insecure online access. While users are online, they aren't in the open information stream, and the information they exchange can't be seen by others. 
• Presentment: the seller produces the invoice and presents it, or sends it, to the buyer. In electronic invoicing, presentment is done electronically, through email or by an email alert directing the buyer to a secure portal to see the invoice. 
• Revenue cycles: the length of time from invoicing to payment of the invoice. E-invoicing shortens the revenue cycle, so businesses receive payment faster.

HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, had a lot to say on the subject of privacy. HIPAA also has a lot to say on the subject of technology. Health information can't be transmitted electronically except in safe and secure ways. Password systems, encryption, and secure portals are examples of safe ways to transmit data. Facilities that deal with private health information have to have a risk management plan, too, detailing how they intend to keep data safe.

The new HITECH act, Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health, raises the bar further still. Now "business associates" as well as health-care providers are required to ensure that their data is secure. It is also necessary to ensure that the computers where data is stored are secure. For small practices, this can be a burden.

SmartPay can help. With SmartPay, health data revealed on invoices is always secure. You can send an email to your patients letting them know that an invoice is ready for them at your secure portal. There is no need to transmit any sensitive data directly, no need to print out or create paper records for invoices, and no need to add security measures to your office computers. Since SmartPay gives you the option of making payments for your customers by phone, it is even suitable for rural areas or older patient populations, in which internet access can be an issue for some patients.

Eligible health professionals who make "meaningful use" of electronic records systems will receive payments under the new stimulus package, which makes it easier to switch to electronic billing now than ever before. The costs of switching -- never a real issue when you use SmartPay -- will be more than covered.

One concern is that the electronic system you use must be "certified," yet the details of certification haven't yet been settled. It could be the end of 2009 before these details are made clear. However, programs will be required to do the following things:

(1) protect the privacy of health information

(2) ensure the comprehensive collection of patient demographic and clinical data

(3) include patient demographic and clinical health information

(4) have the capacity to provide clinical decision and physician order entry

Some of these criteria apply more to EHR programs than to invoicing. Nonetheless, you can feel confident with SmartPay on all these points, because SmartPay is customizable. Filtering features, customizable invoices, and a high level of control over data collection and storage mean that whichever direction the requirements take as HITECH develops, your practice will be able to adjust. 

Easily. Without additional costs.

Contact SmartPay  to discuss your particular needs.