MultiPlan Corporation and ECHO Health, Inc. announced a partnership that combines the services of each company to offer simplified, more cost-effective claim processing for third-party administrators, insurers, and other healthcare payors. With over 40 years of experience, MultiPlan's cost management, payment, and revenue integrity services reduce the cost of care by $22 billion annually on behalf of over 700 healthcare payors and their more than 100,000 employer customers. MultiPlan processes over $155 billion in claim charges annually through a broad range of editing, pricing, negotiation, and payment integrity applications.

ECHO is a longstanding market leader in healthcare payments, processing more than 500 million provider payments per year for over 350 payors and an estimated 100,000 employer customers with electronic connectivity to over 900,000 unique providers. Administrative costs account for between 15% and 30% of U.S. healthcare spending. Theerson Foundationest estimates that the U.S. spends $1,055 per capita on administrative costs, more than three times as much as the next highest country.

Through a single platform, ECHO delivers payments and remittances to providers from over 350 payors, supporting a wide array of remittance formats and payment modalities. The platform employs proprietary filters and processes to guard against payment fraud, a growing issue that is estimated to impact up to 80% of provider organizations. ECHO also manages all reconciliation, exception handling, and payor reporting, including 1099 filing.

Under the joint marketing and services agreement, MultiPlan enhances its claim pricing services by adding payment processing of healthcare provider claims as well as payments made to other service providers. MultiPlan also now has the ability to extend payment processing services to payors that price their own claims. ECHO extends its service portfolio to include out-of-network cost management and decision science services.