Tracy McQuilkin

To re-bill or not to re-bill? That is the question.

Answers Systems — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:24:43 GMT

When a distributors takes an invalid deduction the question comes up on whether that amount is large enough to attempt to collect that money. This is a question many of our clients have and the answer varies.

We have some clients that collect over 80% of what they re-bill and others that collect close to nothing. Why such a huge difference? I guess it all depends on how confident you are with your contracts.

The biggest reason for a distributor to submit for something different than the contract we have on file is they have a different contract than we do. Why is that? Why not create one contract and use it in both places? The client that collects the 80% of re-bills does exactly that. The ContractPro® application is used for the only copy of the contract and that same contract is handed to the customers.

Having two different contracts not only frustrates the customers because they don’t get what they are expecting but also creates a lot of extra work on you, the client. The simple cure, one contract, have customers use the ContractPro ID on the claims they submit. You will have less re-bills and those that you do have will be easily retrievable.

Deductions: What is the Best Way to Handle Them?

Answers Systems — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:50:33 GMT

by Tracy McQuilkin

Deductions are something every manufacturer we work with does differently. It seems no one has found the perfect way to handle deductions that is consistent across all companies.

We recently had a deep dive with a client’s deduction team. Most of the confusion was related to terminology and lack of understanding of what it takes to clear a deduction. Job shadowing was suggested to help with this client.

How do you handle deductions? What makes it so hard with your organization? We'd love to hear your feedback - click here to let us know what is working (or not working) in your organization.

Technorati tags: deductions, foodservice, manufacturer

ContractPro User Tip - Always Use the ContractPro Letter

Answers Systems — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:53:30 GMT

Posted by Tracy McQuilkin

It's easy to match claims to contracts, right? You would think the answer is yes, and it should be. Yet, that's not always the case.

The issue we often find is that the contract that the distributor or operator customer has does not match what a user entered into theContractPro application. When a contract creator chooses to create his or her own version of the contract (via spreadsheet or word processing software) instead of using the the system-generated contract documentation, things just don't match up and problems arise.

This is what causes invoices not to get paid on time, to get paid incorrectly, or sometimes to not even get paid at all. Just think what would happen if the customer had a copy of the manufacturer contract from the ContractPro application and used the CPRO ID on their claims when they submitted. Claims would get paid timely and accurately. No pendings, no holds, no short pays, no rejects . . . .

Long story short - the ContractPro application generates contract documentation to save you time, headaches, and money. If you have questions about how to most effectively leverage ContractPro letters, contact ContractProSupport@answerssystems.com or your Account Manager.

E-claim vs. Paper, What Is All The Hype?

Answers Systems — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:34:52 GMT

Posted by Tracy McQuilkin

E-claims are claims that come in an electronic format to Answers Systems and can be loaded into our processing system behind the scenes. This is a completely paperless process that eliminates the need for printed claims and manual claim entry.

The benefits of the Eclaim^sm process are two-fold. Naturally, as members of the global business community, we have a certain responsibility to contribute to the preservation of our environment. By introducing and encouraging clients to use this greener, more accurate process, we reduce the amount of paper needed for the claims process. And when you’re processing more than 400,000 claims per year, this is a significant opportunity! Secondly, the Eclaim process eliminates human intervention when it comes to keying in line items. By eliminating manual entries, you eliminate the chance of erroneous entries. Also, when an Eclaim is processed in our system, typically every line will clear on the claims and the claim will move straight to the review and approval process. This bypasses multiple days of work within verification, which is required for a paper claim. E-claims are not only quicker to process through our system but the data captured is more accurate because it is loaded systematically from the original file. Normally, a verifier manually inputs all of the lines of data and then the claim is processed. If there is an issue with data on an Eclaim, the verifier is responsible for setting up the missing cross references from the Eclaim data. A bonus of Eclaim is that Eclaim data includes unit level detail which allows more detailed reporting.

So, in a nutshell, why are E-claims with Answers Systems better than paper claims? Less room for error, more information, quicker processing, and more accurate data. Priceless!!!