Streamlining Healthcare: How to Efficiently Extract Data from Bank Statements

The process of manually verifying transactions is not only time-intensive but also prone to inaccuracies, which underscores the necessity of maintaining precise and reliable financial procedures within healthcare settings. 

Healthcare organizations are dedicated to adhering to compliance standards, despite the formidable obstacles involved.

Research indicates that the task of reconciling bank statements by hand is both cumbersome and susceptible to mistakes. A study by Jones et al. (2020) revealed that such manual methods could result in calculation errors, financial losses, and further complications within healthcare operations.

What is bank statement verification?

Bank statements are an essential process in financial management. It regulates an organization's financial transactions to ensure precision and integrity. Cross-referencing the specifics is required to validate the alignment. It involves comparing the information on bank statements with the organization's internal records.

In the healthcare industry, upholding transparency and complying with regulatory standards established by organizations such as HIPAA and Hitech is critical. These regulated businesses inspire confidence in the regulatory body and its stakeholders.

Validating bank statements is equally crucial in the healthcare industry, which requires accurate financial reporting. Organizations can ensure the accuracy of their financial records and bank statements by conducting exhaustive comparisons. Moreover, this facilitates strategic planning and informed decision-making.

An organization can improve its operational efficiency and bolster its stability by implementing a proactive financial management strategy. Checking bank statements is more than just following the steps. It's an important strategic move for businesses in all fields.

Automating bank statement verification streamlines operations. This improves overall efficiency and decreases the probability of errors. 

Why healthcare services and organizations need to verify bank statements? 

The healthcare system is hard to understand because of the complicated nature of money transfers and the constant risk of fraud. Healthcare organizations must make sure that their finances are honest at all times. This is why it's essential to check your bank statements. By reviewing these documents, healthcare teams ensure they comply with regulators' rules.

It's also important to look into some indicators. This makes sure that financial transactions are safe and reliable. A close look at bank statements shows that healthcare organizations are serious about keeping their finances honest. If you look into it, you might need to correct things. This includes transactions that aren't supposed to happen or other signs of something wrong.

a. How healthcare teams verify bank statements?

Healthcare organizations review bank statements to ensure financial security and reliability. Their primary focus includes examining various indicators, such as confirming the account holder's address, identity, and transaction details.

Address verifications

It ensures that it aligns with the provided information. This check is very important for making sure that transactions are accurate. It stops fraudulent activities such as identity theft and fake transactions. Healthcare organizations can check the address on the bank statements or visit the property to ensure it is correct.

Identity verification 

It ensures that the identities of essential stakeholders' identities are correct. Some of these are owners or executives. Identity verification stops identity theft and other fraudulent activities.

This process checks the people involved in financial transactions to ensure they are allowed to do business on behalf of the organization. Official identification documents, such as licenses or passports, may be used by healthcare organizations to check people's identities.

Identity checks help keep people from getting into financial accounts without permission. Imposters are less likely to set up fake activities.

Transaction verification 

Transaction verification means looking for mistakes or problems in the records of past transactions. This is another sign that fraud might be going on. Healthcare companies verify the transactions listed on their bank statements. They compare it to their financial records. This makes sure they are correct and consistent.

Healthcare organizations may use automated tools or software. This helps to look at transaction data and find strange patterns.

b. How can healthcare fraud be prevented with proper verification?

Combatting healthcare fraud necessitates vigilant verification of bank statements to identify discrepancies and prevent document fraud, which poses significant risks to the industry. Document fraud, including falsified bank statements and financial records, leads to substantial financial losses annually within the healthcare sector. 

By diligently reviewing bank statements and ensuring they align with internal records, healthcare organizations can mitigate the risk of such fraud.

Further, protective measures include the implementation of stringent controls and security protocols, such as data encryption and restricted access to sensitive information. Educating staff on the importance of adhering to verification processes and the implications of fraud is also critical.

Promoting a culture of integrity and accountability is equally important. Healthcare entities can strengthen their defense against fraud by fostering transparency and ethical behaviour among their workforce. By taking these comprehensive steps, healthcare organizations not only safeguard their financial assets but also uphold their reputation over the long term.

How does the healthcare team verify bank statements?

When managing money for healthcare, checking bank statements is a must. It ensures that things are correct, precise, and follow the rules. When healthcare teams check bank statements, they usually use manual and automated methods. There are pros and cons to each method.

a. Manual verification

Healthcare teams have traditionally employed paper-based methodologies for examining bank statements. This process entails reviewing either paper or digital copies of bank statements to extract essential data, such as dates, account balances, and transaction details. Manual verification further involves the step of cross-referencing this information with the organization's financial records to identify any discrepancies.

The manual verification process is known to be time-consuming and susceptible to errors. Given the volume and complexity of financial transactions, it may pose significant challenges for healthcare teams, potentially leading to prolonged verification times and decreased accuracy.

Additionally, manual verification necessitates the allocation of dedicated personnel and resources, which may impact the budgets and staffing of healthcare organizations. Despite these challenges, manual verification remains a common practice among healthcare organizations.

b. Automation using technology

Technological advancements have significantly enhanced the capabilities of automation, providing a more efficient and accurate solution for data processing. This innovation is especially beneficial for healthcare organizations in managing bank statements. Utilizing Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, automation software extracts critical information from bank statements, including transaction details, account balances, and dates. It enables the identification of patterns, trends, and anomalies within the data.

Automation employs rule-based verification algorithms to compare extracted data against predefined rules and processes statements in real time, offering healthcare teams timely insights into financial transactions. These systems generate comprehensive reports, facilitating informed decision-making and seamless integration with existing financial management systems, thereby improving data exchange and synchronization.

The transition to automation reduces manual data entry errors, increases productivity, and supports a high volume of transactions. It ensures adherence to verification criteria, minimizing the risks of fraud and financial discrepancies. By reducing reliance on manual labor, healthcare organizations can achieve significant time and cost savings. Automated verification outperforms manual checks in efficiency, accuracy, and speed, while also enhancing data security by minimizing manual handling of sensitive information.

How can we automate bank statement verification for healthcare efficiency?

a. Use OCR technology

OCR technology turns scanned or digital bank statements into computer-readable text. This makes it easier for automation software to review and process the data.

b. Choose software to extract bank statements

Purchase software like Docsumo to extract bank statements. Healthcare organizations use this type of software. These software solutions make the verification process faster. It pulls data from bank statements, analyzes it, and ensures it is correct.

c. Change the verification rules

The automation software allows you to modify the verification rules. These rules will help manage healthcare finances. The verification process ensures accuracy and adherence to rules.

d. Integrate with existing systems

Ensure the automation software works well. Especially with the health organizations' current financial systems and workflows. Integrating systems makes it easier to share and sync data.

e. Install real-time processing

Use automation to process bank statements in real-time. This gives healthcare teams up-to-date information on financial transactions. Real-time processing makes it easier to make choices. This also makes it possible to manage financial risks before they happen.

f. Monitor and optimize performance

Always keep an eye on how well automation systems are working. Remember to look for opportunities to improve things. You should check the accuracy. Check the efficiency and compliance of the automated verification process regularly. Make the necessary changes to improve results.

The benefits of bank statement verification automation in healthcare

Healthcare organizations can save time, cut down on errors, and make better decisions with automation. Docsumo stands out as the best way for healthcare to check bank statements.

Docsumo makes it easy and quick for healthcare teams to check bank statements. It also has advanced OCR technology and verification rules that you can change.

Why do you choose Docsumo? It speeds up the verification process. It ensures it is correct, follows the rules, and keeps data safe. It's perfect for healthcare organizations willing to get better at managing their money. Take the next step toward checking your bank statements more. Docsumo can help you automate checking your bank statements right now.

FAQs

a. What is the difference between a bank statement and a bank reconciliation statement?

The bank statement is something that the bank provides you with. It shows all transactions that happened during a certain time frame. It has a list of deposits, withdrawals, and fees.

We get bank reconciliation statements by comparing bank statements with the company's financial records. It checks for accuracy and finds mistakes. For more information on bank reconciliation, please read our article.

b. How do you reconcile a bank statement?

To reconcile a bank statement, you must compare the listed transactions. Compare it with the records kept in the company's financial records. Investigate any differences between the two. 

That makes sure it's correct. During this step, we match deposits, withdrawals, and other transactions. It also includes making changes to checks and deposits that are still outstanding.