HealthFrame Discussion

Re: Insurance EOBs and Doctor Payments

Esther625 — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 13:04:43 GMT

Thank you for your response to my questions.

Matching EOBs with doctors visits

One way to do this is to use HealthFrame's support for attachments. For instance, say you enter a record for a medical visit. A few weeks later you receive your EOB from your insurance company. Scan that EOB. Add "Related Information" to the visit - as either a File Attachment or a link - please see the buitl-in help files for more details.

As for using the Link for Related Information, this does not work for me, as it is really limited in it's functionality. I keep all related files on a separate drive and in separate folders from the program. I have these files set up on a year-by-year, doctor-by-doctor, visit-by-visit basis for visits, and in a year-by-year, prescription-by-prescription, order-by-order prescription folder for prescriptions. The Link function does not allow me to use it with the number of folders I have. . . I guess it limits the number of folders you can "drill down" to. Therefore, I have to attached all the files to the database.

This will help you match the EOB to the visit or any other relevant information such as treatment, medication, etc.

I already use attachments, but what I guess I am really looking for is another field on the Vist and Communication views to add an EOB number. I would also like to be able to have the option of displaying the EOB Numbers when I view/print my visits. This would at least allow me to easily see the EOB numbers in the list.

Multiple Expense records per visit

You can add multiple expense annotations per visit. This way you could track the "allowed" amount, any co-pays you made, remaining co-insurance and then your 'final' payment - when you make it. (Please remember that 'credits' on your behalf, should be marked as negative numbers, e.g. if your insuranced paid $20.00, enter the value as -20.00).

Honestly, I really don't care about entering what the insurance has paid, what the co-insurance is, the allowed amount, etc. What I am really looking for is a simple check mark type of box to indicated this particular visit has been paid in full, and an opportunity to view/print only those visits that have not been paid in full.

Expense Transaction Report

The expense transaction report will add up the numbers (including properly handling the negative values). For a visit that has been completely paid, the remaining balance should be zero.

We understand this is not as intuititive as it could be and we have forwarded your comments to our development team. Please let us know if any of the suggestions above aren't clear.

You are right in that this isn't as intuitive as it could be. It seems this is taking the long way around to get what I need. But, HealthFrame is still great!

Thank you for considering these issues. I do look forward to the next release of HealthFrame!

Oh, and BTW, I use HealthFrame for other things as well. I just create a PHR for the subject I want to keep tabs on. For example, I am having issues with the builder of my house, and rather than taking paper notes, I use HealthFrame to track all my communications with the builder. I also have a PHR for my dog, for my mother, etc. Thank you so very much for this product.

Re: Insurance EOBs and Doctor Payments

support@RecordsForLiving.com — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 22:45:11 GMT

Dear Esther,

Thanks again for your thoughtful description of how we can continue to improve HealthFrame and make it more beneficial to our users.

It is indeed our hope that future releases will continue to improve on our ability to support recording, tracking and reporting medical expense management.

Though not all of your suggestions are currently supported in HealthFrame, I believe there may be some specific features that you may find helpful.

Matching EOBs with doctors visits

One way to do this is to use HealthFrame's support for attachments. For instance, say you enter a record for a medical visit. A few weeks later you receive your EOB from your insurance company. Scan that EOB. Add "Related Information" to the visit - as either a File Attachment or a link - please see the buitl-in help files for more details.

This will help you match the EOB to the visit or any other relevant information such as treatment, medication, etc.

Multiple Expense records per visit

You can add multiple expense annotations per visit. This way you could track the "allowed" amount, any co-pays you made, remaining co-insurance and then your 'final' payment - when you make it. (Please remember that 'credits' on your behalf, should be marked as negative numbers, e.g. if your insuranced paid $20.00, enter the value as -20.00).

Expense Transaction Report

The expense transaction report will add up the numbers (including properly handling the negative values). For a visit that has been completely paid, the remaining balance should be zero.

We understand this is not as intuititive as it could be and we have forwarded your comments to our development team. Please let us know if any of the suggestions above aren't clear.

Thanks,
Support Team

Insurance EOBs and Doctor Payments

Esther625 — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 19:08:32 GMT

I have quite complex medical conditions that require many specialists, tests, etc. Is there any way to match Insurance EOB's with doctors' visits, etc.?

Also, HealthFrame has a "Co-Pay" field, but there is no way to easily manage what has been paid in full and what hasn't. For example, after a hospital visit, the hospital (the doctors, the radiologists, etc.) first bill the insurance company. After they bill the insurance company, I received a bill from them for the balance. However, this balance due is usually wrong as the amount I am being billed does not match up with the "Coinsurance" on the EOB from the insurance company.

There are times when I have sent in a partial payment until the hospital/doctor resolves a balance due issue. It would be helpful if there were a way to check off when a visit/charge has been paid in full. It would also be helpful to be able to generate a report for all visit's/EOB's that remain unpaid. Is there something already available to track what EOB has been paid and what hasn't? Is this under consideration for future enhancements?

Many thanks!