What is the Consolidated Appropriations Act?

In 2022, President Biden signed this act. It provides $1.5 trillion in appropriations and funding through the 2022 fiscal year. Like any other House Resolution, this act is complex and provides funding through 12 appropriations bills.

Funding

This act provides funding for various programs and agencies. Initially, it included more Covid-19 relief funds. However, approximately $15.6 billion of relief funds were removed to focus on other areas. Non-defense spending increased by roughly 6.7 percent from the previous fiscal year. Meanwhile, defense spending increased by 5.6 percent.

Portions of the $1.5 trillion went to:

• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - $140.4 billion
• State and Tribal Assistance Grants - $4.352 billion
• Workforce Innovation and Opportunity State Grants - $2.9 billion
• Department of Homeland Security - $57.5 billion
• Military Constriction and Veterans Affairs - $284.6 billion

Consumer Protections

While funding was the primary focus of this act, it also established consumer protections. The act aims to increase transparency in healthcare and prevent surprise billing for consumers.

The No Surprise Act

A big part of this act is the changes to the QPA, or qualifying payment amount. The QPA determines individual cost-sharing for items in Title I of Division BB of the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA). It applies protections broadly to providers, facilities, and the providers of air ambulance services. The goal is to adopt a universal methodology for calculating qualifying payment amounts, offering more transparency and decreasing the chances of inflated costs.

The No Surprise Act also includes details about Remittance Advice Remark Codes (RARCs). The RARCs can be used by plans and insurers to communicate claim information to providers and facilities.

Prescription Drug Transparency

Another detail of this act pertains to drug transparency. Under section 204 of Title II of Division BB, the act states that insurance companies and employer-based health care plans must provide data about spending. They must submit information about prescription drugs and health care spending to various government departments. These include the Departments of Health & Human Services, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Treasury.

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Why You Should Transition from Manual to Digital Authentication

In the past, manual verification was the only option for businesses. However, the digital revolution brought about powerful tools that eliminated the need for monotonous, human-based verification.

Even still, some companies are holding out to archaic practices. If you're still on the fence, here are a few good reasons why you should transition to digital authentication methods.

Digital Methods Save Time

Have you ever considered how much time your company wastes performing manual authentication? Time is money, and sticking to old-school ways of doing things could cost your organization a pretty penny.

There's a lot of work involved with manual verification. Not only does your team have to wait for the necessary resources, but there are also matters of customer interaction, re-screenings, and more.

Your customers aren't too keen on the long wait time, either. It's an unnecessary obstacle that only makes accessing your product or service a challenge. With so many companies going digital, your manual processes will stand out for the wrong reasons.

Digital Authentication is More Cost-Effective

One of the biggest manual verification problems is the costs involved. Anything that takes up a ton of time will cost you more in the end. But that's not all. Manual processes also require significant human resources. You have to hire more people to take care of verification, which ends up cutting your bottom line.

Transitioning to digital can help address those costs. Your HR department can be much smaller. Not only that, but your team can focus on more pressing matters instead of dedicating their time to arduous tasks.

Digital Technology is More Accurate

Manual verification problems often occur due to human error. When you have real people handling this process, mistakes are bound to happen at some point. They can lead to all kinds of compliance issues that ultimately cost your business even more money.

Digital authentication is much more accurate. The variable of human error does not exist in digital systems. As a result, the work becomes more reliable across the board.

Making the Switch

Those are just a few reasons why you should consider moving to a digital authentication system. In this day and age, the perks greatly outweigh any potential disadvantages. More and more processes are benefiting from digitization. Why not let authentication be one of them for your business?

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