All I want to do is pay a medical bill. Why does it have to be so difficult? I bet a lot of people would like to know the answer to that.
One thing that is nice about having a personal blog is that it allows the blogger, on occasion, to “vent” his frustration to the world. “Look at what the bastards are putting me through!” (Result: I feel a little better.)
One thing that is bad about having a personal blog is that it allows the blogger to “vent” his frustration to the world instead of writing an article that is creative and interesting. (Result: you feel a little worse.)
But while this article may seem like venting, that’s not its purpose. The purpose of this article is to document. Just in case. Because you never know how things will turn out.
In July I had a routine procedure at a local hospital which shall remain nameless. I’m kidding! The hospital is John Randolph Medical Center (JRMC).
The hospital billed my primary insurance which paid their share of the bill. The hospital then billed my supplemental insurance, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield.
I knew I owed the remainder of the bill because I had not met the deductible for the Anthem policy. By now it was November and I wanted to pay the bill before the end of the calendar year. To do that, I needed an invoice.
I called the hospital’s billing department and asked them to send me a bill. No dice. The woman I spoke with told me they couldn’t send me a bill until they heard back from the insurance company. She said Anthem had not responded to their claim so they had just sent Anthem a second claim. I would have to wait.
A week or so later, I received a letter from a company called NPAS. According to the letter, NPAS manages my account for JRMC. The people at NPAS told me to contact Anthem and get things straightened out so they could collect their money. I didn’t understand why I fit into this, because it was, and is, my belief that insurance companies have call centers, both for their customers and for healthcare providers, to handle such matters.
Nevertheless…
I called Anthem and explained the situation. The woman I spoke with told me the first claim was rejected due to “incomplete information.” The second claim was rejected because it was a duplicate of the first.
I called NPAS again and told them what Anthem had told me. The woman I spoke with at NPAS told me she would have the hospital email me an invoice right away. She wanted me to pay the bill by December 20th, which was about a week away. I said I would, if she would get me an invoice. It’s now December 20th and I still have not received an invoice.
Two companies have a mutual responsibility — JRMC has to send a proper bill to Anthem, and Anthem has to pay the bill or explain why they won’t. Considering the number of medical bills sent out and paid every day, that system should just work. But somewhere there had been “a failure to communicate.”
I went to the hospital website to look for a way to get a copy of the invoice. I knew it was a longshot. As I perused their website, I found a “message center” page that enabled me to directly contact the hospital. I composed a short note explaining the problem, hit Send, and hoped for the best.
I hoped to receive, at the least, a reply stating, “We received your message.” But I received no response. Perhaps I should say, I received no timely response. For all I know, my message is even now wending its way through the hospital bureaucracy, like a message in a bottle drifting on a vast ocean.
Next, I considered the possibility that the hospital might have a page on their website that would allow me to view and pay my bill online. And indeed, I found such a page. Clicking the link took me to a website called My Health One which stated I could view and pay my JRMC bills online. First I had to create an account. I attempted to do that but was stymied when I had to enter my patient account number. You know — the number on the bill I didn’t have.
The next day I called the hospital’s billing department. The first two questions I was asked were, “What is your name?” and “What is your patient account number?” Without an account number, I had to answer a gauntlet of questions designed to ensure I was who I said I was. But I got my account number.
I went back to My Health One and was partially successful at setting up an account, but I was unable to do anything with it. I called their tech support and a helpful woman named Rachael guided me through the process. I had to connect my health records to my account. When I tried to do that, nothing happened, but Rachael got me through that, too. Then, when I tried to pay the bill, there was no bill to pay. Of course I had no bill; it was in limbo at the insurance company. So Rachael connected me to a billing support person who, I would guess from her accent, probably works at a call center in Costa Rica. The billing person did whatever magic billing persons do, and finally she announced she had fixed the problem and an invoice would be sent to me.
Of course, I’ve heard that before. Seeing is believing.
Update #1 (12/27/17): A week has passed. I have received no mail or email from JRMC or anyone else connected with this bill.
No comments:
Post a Comment