Health care coverage in the United States is in a precarious spot. That’s why medical practices must do whatever they can to ensure they’re taking full advantage of all available revenue opportunities. One of the best ways to do that is with software featuring real-time medical eligibility verification, found as part of an EMR/EHR software suite, which can assist with a many of the problems associated with patient coverage. Too often, practices rely heavily on front office staff as the first line of defense for billing and medical verification but do not give them the best tools available for the job. This leaves front staff with a more complicated billing process, which can affect everything from revenue generation to customer service. Consider that an average medical practice submits around 83 claims per day, and yet only slightly more than half of accounts receivable are collected after a month's rel="noopener noreferrer" time. According to the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), that results in issues such as two-thirds of physician practice revenue lost due to billing leakage and 30% of claims being denied or ignored on first submission. In fact, it's estimated that doctors in the U.S. lose up to $125 billion a year because of poor billing practices. Whenever a patient initially makes contact with a medical practice, for instance, that should automatically trigger the start of the billing process and insurance eligibility verification. Front office staff should immediately begin collecting the patient's information, including demographics and current healthcare coverage, for billing purposes. Unfortunately, whether it's due to overworked staff or poor organization, this doesn't always happen, which can result in rejected claims due to eligibility.