dotting the i's and crossing the t's of lung cancer

While it might sound like a trick question for ‘are you smarter than a 5^th grader’, after all there are no i’s or t’s in lung cancer, the reality is that so far surviving lung cancer means I have spent more time reviewing, auditing and haggling over bills than I have recovering.

As incredulous as it may seem on average billing ERRORS average 15%-20% across the board. Even more incredulously is apparently no one cares because medical costs are essentially arbitrary; there are no real definable costs. A test or procedure costs X if you have one insurance, costs y if you have another, or potentially even x+y if you have no insurance. Bottom line there is no ‘actual cost’ for a product or service.

How can I discuss line items on bills if I am not prepared with at least lay-knowledge of services, techniques, equipment, etc.

I have had to self-learn radiology, pathology, oncology, and surgical terminology, spending hours to days on line self-learning billing and coding and more.  

I have caught everything from an obvious double billing of a day’s hospitalization for a pneumothorax to billing for X-rays that were not even mine.

Years ago when such things used to surprise me I would record into my day planner how much time I spent on medical billing and insurance related issues caring for my wife with Multiple Sclerosis. 1,000 hours a year was not unusual. That is essentially an additional 125 working days a year ‘unpaid’ spend on phones and paperwork. I did it because I originally wanted to reduce the stress for her of living with MS but later progression of cognitive symptoms left her unable.

Surviving lung cancer for a few months already has shattered those numbers and I’m not caregiving for someone else, I am trying to recover and survive.

It’s not like 15% is a great chance of survival in the first place so why does the medical billing, coding, and insurance profession ramp up the stress with its carelessness to increase the obstacles.

 --
by Patrick Leer

BLOGS:

Caregivingly Yours, MS Caregiver @ http://caregivinglyyours.blogspot.com/

My Lung Cancer Odyssey @ http://lung-cancer-survivor.blogspot.com/

health lung cancer harrisburg pennsylvania