a peeve

 We accept so many different insurances, particularly when it comes to Medicare supplemental plans. Most Medicare patients have one. We get paid for visits first by Medicare, and then the claim goes on to the supplemental plan for payment. The payments are typically around $26.60, $22.18 -- not very much. Most of our payments come automatically, deposited to our bank account. So every month when it's time to reconcile the account, I go through and make sure all the deposits are in our system. Often I'll find one of these smaller payments missing. I'll find it, post it, and then apply it to the appropriate patient visits. Many of these come into our Practice Management system automatically also, which is nice. But now and then, it could take me literally hours to find one of these small payments. 

For example, here's what I see on my bank statement:

HCCLAIMPMT ABC PLATINUM                        26.60 

            

ABC Platinum isn't an insurer I've seen before. The amount shown, $26.60 isn't entered yet in my practice management software. So i have to go looking for it. There are about 8 "Payment sites" that various insurers use to upload their Explanation of benefits to accompany any payments they've made so we can download and apply each payment to the appropriate patient. In this case I go to one of those payment sites and find the payment. I usually know which one to use based on the name on the statement. However, after looking on each payment site, I haven't found it.

So today I've wasted about an hour trying to find it. I looked at each site, and after not finding it, I looked up the insurer online and called the phone number on the website. Of course, it's Friday and they close at 1:00. So I'm stuck with a meager $26.60 that I can't account for. It's no longer worth $26.60 to find it, but i have to so the patient's account will be up-to-date.

When I am Queen of the World, here's how this will happen instead:

All insurance payments will be held on ONE PAYMENT SITE. No matter the amount, $1 to $1M. No matter the insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield or some podunky insurance like "ABC Platinum."

Long live the Queen.