Project Paper Clutter

No one likes being sick. A lengthy illness or hospitalization stay can leave you with lots of doctors, tests, follow up appointments and bills. It can overwhelm quickly. Depending on the type of illness and lingering affects it can be impossible. I am here to tell you there is help out there.There are Social Workers and Case Managers that can help. A trusted person can also do this with the information I am going to share. I am not just a Professional Organizer, I have worked in healthcare for over thirty years and bring my experience to my clients and to this blog. 

One of the first recommendations I have is to get a notebook, at least a 3 subject. If you feel you need more you could make it a 5 subject notebook! Keeping everything in one place makes it easy to take to appointments. This notebook will be a place for writing down appointment dates and times and what was discussed at the appointment. (This is so important because it’s really easy to forget what was discussed and can be confused with other appointments).

1. Write down any questions that you think of outside your appointment.
2. Note any new symptoms and frequency here as well.
3. Keep track of phone calls to doctor’s offices for billing and insurance purposes.
4. Write down every person you talk to and include the date and time along with any details from the conversation.

The next recommendation is a file folder or some other divided container to hold paper. 

The paper clutter that is generated from one hospitalization can hit you like a tidal wave.  You can set this up however it makes sense to you. 

Examples:

• Make each compartment a doctor, healthcare facility or insurance correspondence.  Label it as such.
• It could be done in broad terms, all doctors in one, bills in the other, insurance information in another.
• You can set up a section for items to be submitted, items sent and completed claims.
• Labeling is one of the keys to success. The other key is to keep the notebook and the file folder in one place. ( I could tell you stories…!)

There is no wrong way. The only rule is that it works for the person using the system!

Recommendation: As each bill comes in, it should be placed in the appropriate place and weekly all bills should be looked at along with any explanation of benefits (EOB) that have come in through the mail. If you are set up electronically, you will need to review things weekly as well. It can quickly snowball if you aren’t paying attention.

What to do with the EOB

The EOB is what the care provider billed to your insurance. It has useful information such as the date of service, the Provider, what your patient responsibility is as far as co-pay and co-insurance. It also tells you if you’ve met your deductible because once you have, there should be less coming out of your pocket. (If you have more than one insurance you will receive a separate EOB from them too.) Each time you receive care or a prescription you receive an EOB. This is where the paper starts to accumulate.

Recommendation: Match up EOB’s with medical bills. This is what will help you keep track of what you owe and what you paid. If things don’t make sense, call the Insurance company and have them explain to you what was in question. This information should go in your notebook.(Date and time you called, the name of the person you spoke to, what was the result)

Sometimes, you learn the secondary insurance was never billed from looking at the EOB and the medical bills. If this happens, it is your responsibility to call up the Care Provider and make sure they have the correct information for your insurance. Again, this is worth noting in your notebook.

Receiving a Bill and Nothing from the Insurance Company

This will require you to contact the Provider sending the bill to make sure they have your insurance information and can submit the charges to the insurance for you. There are times when your insurance is not in network and you will have to submit it yourself. Here’s what you will do:

1. Get the superbill. This is different from the bill your received. A superbill will have the following info: MD Tax ID, NPI ( a unique identifier used by ins), Name of patient, Date of service, Procedure code, Diagnosis Code and the signature of the Provider. 
2. Print out an online claim form ( create a username and password at your insurance companies website). Sometimes you have to search for the claim forms, that is done by going to the search bar and typing claim form. Click “Print” when you find it. ( I would print some extra copies for you to keep in your file folder).
3. Make a copy of the bill and the claim form you filled out before you fax it or send it out in the mail. Place the copy in your file folder. Note the date you sent the claim in your notebook.
4. Once the claim is paid on you may file this in the appropriate place. 
5. If the claim is denied, you will need to get out your notebook and call your Insurance company to determine the reason for the denial. Write this information down because you may be able to file an appeal. 

Hopefully, this gives you a wealth of knowledge to create a system for this type of paper clutter. My goal was to simplify a complicated and overwhelming system as much as possible, hope that I did. 

Here are a few takeaways:

1. Open all mail (No procrastinating)
2. Get someone to help you if you are unable to process this information.This will not go away on its own. 
3. Set up your system so that it makes sense for whomever will be using it
4. Keep everything confined to one area.

You are ready to set up your system!