My own internist is semi-concierge, she asks for a yearly fee as she takes all sorts of insurance including Medicare.

Two of my clients have concierge doctors–and those two clients also have Medicare. Their claims are still processed via Medicare, but they pay $$/month for access to their doctors. It is super helpful as their doctors have…[Read more]

Hi there!

I just got back from Albuquerque, helping my daughter with her baby.

Yes, the health care in New Mexico is really lacking.

Many of the UNM clinics are backed up for months. (My grandson’s pediatrician wanted a cardiology consult because she thought she heard a heart murmur–and the pedi cardiology clinic was backed up till later this…[Read more]

Definitely going to ask for “Red Flags” ID theft policy!

And–I had an incident where the doctor’s office mixed up my insurance card with another patient (same health plan). When I went to get my card, it was someone else’s card! I told the office about the mixup & they said the other person had already left…

I had them call that person to…[Read more]

Thanks! Appreciate the link due to my tax/prep-scrambled brain that couldn’t find it! I was never meant to be an accountant…definitely did the right thing by going the health care route!

Hi Rachel,
I can’t find you & Rebekah’s articles? Then again, I’m in the middle of preparing my taxes–so I’m a little distracted!

Thanks!

Here in Texas, the religious “sharing” plans aren’t legally health insurance, so there is no standing in state law to compel them to cover anything they deny.

Here’s a story done by Jenny Deam, a journalist formerly here in Houston, now w/ ProPublica–basically there’s truly nothing you can do other than go after these groups w/ law enforcement…[Read more]

Durable power of attorney (DPOA) is financial. Medical power of attorney (MPOA) is a totally different document–at least here in Texas & I was fairly sure that is true for other states, but I only know TX. This allows someone to designate a person to control their finances if they are incapacitated & another to control medical…[Read more]

I think despite HIPAA or other documents signed by our clients–things change with various diagnoses or treatments. Always checking back when there is new information received with a cognitively intact client is a good idea as they may not want new medical information given to previously documented friends/family members. This should be an…[Read more]

Hi there!

I formerly worked in patient education at MD Anderson & can quickly educate patients as to their status with a cancer diagnosis. I can help them assess clinical trials “mechanism of action” & put into perspective their options. I can also translate “doctor talk” quickly as well as talk to the oncologists in their own language (having…[Read more]

I only bill for maybe half of my time if I need to come up to speed on a new diagnosis. Then again, new diagnoses are being documented every day. My younger daughter works with children with special needs and she’ll say, “My new student has ‘XYZ’ syndrome and there are only 100 of them in the world.” Then the next year, she’ll say that there…[Read more]

Hey Althea! Sorry to hear that about GoDaddy! Wix had an “Accessibility Wizard” that walked me through the whole process. Square Space might have the same thing…

I mostly love Wix as I could do most of setting up my new website myself but had to rely on my I.T. guy to do the more complicated things that would have taken me too much time to…[Read more]

My Wix platform had an “Accessibility Wizard” so I just followed those steps. Meanwhile Brad Schwartz our Legal Eagle jumped in with this reassurance as to how courts are dismissing some of these lawsuits as they are seen as…[Read more]

Althea’s comment reminded me: My friend with scleroderma will turn on her heater in her car during the Houston Summer! Her hands stay cold almost all the time (Raynaud’s syndrome, very common with scleroderma patients)—it’s quite a challenge to ride as her passenger in our record-breaking heat this past summer! If you’d like to buy something…[Read more]

Will Aflac allow you or the family to work on this person’s claims? I’ve done health insurance claim work for spouses whose spouses passed away & many of the health plans throw up huge barriers to accessing the deceased spouse’s information.

In addition, Aflac will want the UB04s (the codes that the hospitals & insurance companies use…[Read more]

I think this is the reason that ophthalmologists always say that people get LASIK b/c of all the commercials for that procedure, but doctors/med people get PRK to correct vision.

I know the Univ. of Houston School of Optometry (which has ophthalmologists on staff also) deals with a large number of LASIK complications. So sorry this happened to…[Read more]

So many questions!

Did the LASIK cause corneal problems? Or is that a separate issue? (This person might need a LASIK complication MD or maybe a cornea expert?)

Does this person want to travel or are they wanting a remote med record review?

I have a great retinal surgeon here in Houston (saved the vision in my left eye) & I could ask her who…[Read more]

The Menninger Clinic has a great reputation and offers great services. However, I would get prior authorization from this client’s health plan. Menninger doesn’t take insurance, so your client would have to submit the claims themselves. There needs to be a clear, in-writing agreement from the health plan that they will cover Menninger under…[Read more]