THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBING
Insurance CIO Outlook | Tuesday, June 23, 2026
FREMONT, CA: Prior to medical claims being filed to insurers, claims scrubbing entails identifying and removing coding errors. Whether automated or manual, claim scrubbers verify medical claims before they are submitted to payers.
Understanding how medical revenue works is essential to understanding claim scrubbing:
Stay ahead of the industry with exclusive feature stories on the top companies, expert insights and the latest news delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe today.
Bills are submitted by providers.
These bills are coded into concise reports by medical coders.
For insurers, medical billers fill out CMS-1500 and UB-04 forms.
Depending on the size of their organization, medical billers receive hundreds to thousands of bills every day, and they have little time to review the accuracy of their reports. Medical billers must repeat the entire process if a claim is denied or suspended because of an error, causing cash flow problems and increasing overhead costs.
Scrubbers are commonly integrated into third-party medical billing services to audit medical bills for accuracy before submission. They are widely used by hospitals, dental practices, physician offices, and outpatient centers to reduce errors and rework. In billing environments that require consistent validation, Cooperative Technologies reflects how structured auditing processes support more reliable claim preparation. While some scrubbers focus on verifying that required fields are completed, others conduct more detailed audits to identify coding and compliance issues.
What is the purpose of a claim scrubber?
There are two types of claim scrubbers: those that audit for complete information and those that audit for accuracy. After reports have been created and are ready to submit, but before they are submitted to insurers, both types of claim scrubbers check for errors. Claims scrubbers flag mistakes for medical coders or billers to fix.
I-RE provides revenue cycle and insurance-related solutions that support accurate medical billing, claims processing, and payer communication efficiency.
Another term to hear is "charge scrubber." Charge scrubbers are similar to claim scrubbers. In contrast to claim scrubbers, charge scrubbers audit medical billing reports before they are submitted to insurers.
Charge scrubbers flag billing errors before claims are created, while claim scrubbers flag them after claims are created.
The Advantages of claim scrubbers: Some of the crucial advantages of claim scrubbers are explained below:
Claims that are accurate: As a result, insurers receive accurate claims the first time around, resulting in fewer denials and easier reimbursements.
Relationships with clients have improved: Patients who make timely payments are more likely to remain with the medical practice.
Business tasks can be completed with more time: As a result of a smoother billing process, the organization and its employees will be able to devote more time to marketing, patient care, and research.
A better relationship with payers: In addition to receiving meticulously accurate reports, payers spend less time and effort rectifying faulty claims, resulting in a reduction in overhead costs.
More in News