My first job at big-Boston-hospital was as a (billing dept.) customer service rep., so I do (or at least, did) generally know how to read the bills, and insurance EOBs, etc., and have a good sense of what might be on the patient's bill due to an error on the part of either the billers, or the insurance company's claims processors.
My second job was as supervisor of that unit. I wrote off just about every bill anyone called me about, because I'm a pinko commie that way, and I was angry that big-hospital pretty much declared war against Clinton's healthcare plans, the day after he named his wife as head of the project. Really, they sent lawyers, guns, and money (and the guns might not just be a joke) to D.C.--the next day, after they had a big rally-the-troops moment with the troops (who were totally cheering for Hil).
My third and fourth jobs there were different, though. I was a project analyst, in both. I should have worked in the IT department, but I worked as an IT analyst for the Finance department. Three of my pet projects were very billing rules and medical coding (particularly Medicare, and particularly ESRD related) oriented, though.
So yeah, that would be great flea, until I had teh stroke. I think I'd have to do something like that on a volunteer basis, rather than for pay, because it's so personal to me when I see someone getting financially abused by the game.
Free advice for my friends though: Don't take "no" for an answer, even if the explanation the insurance company/billing people give you makes some sense. If you go high enough up the ladder, you'll get someone who will write off the charge for you, or find some obscure reason your claim should be covered.
Don't feel bad, Teppy. I was trying to parse
FAB husband
for about five minutes, and it didn't click for me that it was just fabulous husband, until after you asked about STG.
Happy CashMatt Day, people!
I have a six month old now. This is wild. She's learned that if she flails at the touchpad, things move on the screen. Little girl will be programming before we know it!
I think I'd have to do something like that on a volunteer basis, rather than for pay, because it's so personal to me when I see someone getting financially abused by the game.
FWIW, if my bills/claims weren't fairly simple, I'd very happily pay for such a service -- perhaps on a percentage of how much you saved me basis, so it would be clear to both of us that it really was helping and not putting me any deeper in the hole.
She's learned that if she flails at the touchpad, things move on the screen.
Pish. My cat can do that, and she's also housebroken.
Little girl will be programming before we know it!
Maybe she already is? It would explain some of the software I've seen.
Generally what happens though, is this. The doctor's office has failed to keep up with changes in coding requirements. They'll bill with a diagnosis code that is one-digit-to-the-right-of-the-decimal short, or something silly like that. When the poor patient calls, he is told Service-X isn't covered on their policy for that diagnosis. Technically, that's true. But in reality, what is happening is the doctor put down a diagnosis code of 123.0 and he was supposed to put down 123.00.
The patient then ends up calling the doctor's office and saying the insurance company said the diagnosis isn't covered. The doctor's office is paying one crank minimum wage to do two jobs, and the crank says something like, "Well, we can't falsify your billing records," instead of researching what code it was billed under, and seeing if there is another diagnosis code that conveys the same medical information (so no fraud) but that is covered. The same is true for procedure coding.
A lot of stuff is actually not covered, but easily 7 times out of 10, when someone was calling me about a billing problem, it was either the insurance company's fault, or the billing office's fault, and the poor patient would pay the bill to make it go away.
Your cat is much smarter than my cats.
But, then, two thirds of the cat population here = really dumb. The remaining cat = old and lazy.
Hmm. Now to teach the baby more practical things, like how to turn on iTunes.
Happy birthdays, Cash and Matt! Hurray for your being born!
Easy fasting for anyone whose observing that. I'm not, because I, um, forgot. Whoops. Ate dinner after sundown and got up and had breakfast before I remembered what I was supposed to be doing today...
I got 2 hours of sleep, and then the client called me to have me read the document because his home computer couldn't open it. I would think that your home computer not opening would clue you in that it's a large document, but nsm, I guess. Thankfully, when I didn't answer the phone (because Greg couldn't get me up fast enough), he called the office, found out that his second-in-command thinks it's wonderful and that it's also 35 pages, and decided I didn't need to read it to him. I had to make a few minor edits and it's all done.
Now I'm plotting for a nap.
