Stunned.

That?s the best way I can describe my latest revelation from Tech Support. I normally just keep my mouth shut and figure that things will be addressed n due time but I?m finally to the point of frustration with things that are just plain slow, clunky or in this case just don't work.

The issue: Preauthorization Numbers and their export to EZ Claim.

Before I begin my story, I would like to state that Andrew in Tech Support was courteous, knowledgeable and friendly. Interfacing with tech support is never the issue. I?ve worked tech support in the past and it is a thankless job. Kudos to the people who have to deal with irritated jackasses like myself.

That being said?..

I?ve been waiting a couple of years now for the ability to export various pieces of data into EZ Claim. Most of it would just be nice but not critical but with the continuing rollout of the ACA and with insurers looking for more ways to limit access to healthcare (or at least throttle it), pre-authorizations are a way of life for many of us. So why hasn?t AC realized this? You can enter preauth info into AC via the ?Other Insurance Info? button when generating a superbill (though proper workflow would dictate the button should be on the Billing Info screen via patient demographics being that you are getting the auth before you treat the patient lest one runs the risk of not getting reimbursed). You can generate a 1500 form from within AC and the preauth is there. When you export to EZClaim, it isn?t even written to the export file. Huh?

Come on AC, this is pretty basic insurance 101 stuff. EZClaim is pretty standard and many offices use it. All the documentation from EZ Claim states that field 23 should export. According to them, it is a done deal. Is anyone at AC talking to EZClaim? EZClaim, are you talking to AC? Is ANYONE testing? Geez, after a couple years of waiting, I finally just got CPT modifiers to export. Should I expect preauths by 2020?

I have been doing the math and my staff wastes about 2 hours a day on transferring manually the preauth information between AC and EZClaim because every procedure we do requires preauthorization.
?
Any decent database admin or developer could correct the issue with a nominal about of input. Find the appropriate data field name, alter the app to account for the placement, create the text output field with the correct data field and don?t screw up the comma placement. I have just a basic understanding of how it works?..but still. The attitude of the relayed response from the ?interface designer? was pretty much. It doesn?t work. It won?t work. We have no plans of making it work. You can request it and we?ll put it on a very long list of things people want that we have no real intention of getting to. Make sure you pay your $1200 so we can update the letter writer some more and infuriate you with features that should have but don?t.

OK?..maybe beyond the ?you can request it? I added my own spin but that?s how I feel as a customer and it is a valid sentiment that was conferred based on their response.

The real issue isn?t that they can?t do it; the issue is they don?t want to do it. I have a sneaking suspicion that were It to function, it may be one more reason not to pay the $250/mo for their practice management nodule. There may be some out there thinking that $250 a month is peanuts to save 10 hours of labor a week. It may be; however, why should I be paying more for a feature that is so basic that it should be working ?out of the box? AND if the feature actually worked, I could save the 10 hours a week and the $250/mo. With reimbursements continually spiraling around the toilet bowl, I?ll save whatever I can wherever I can.

Rant over?.. but other than the upgrades in April, I really wonder why I?m paying $1200 a year for support I rarely use, Guardian Angel support that doesn?t call back during critical work stoppage situations (after their normal hours, not mine), corporate communication that is rare (unless you consider e-mails wanting to sell you conferences), and a development team that seemingly is out of touch with the product and the industry it serves.
<sigh>

I have to get back to manually transferring 50 preauth numbers now.