My mom is in AL facility. Between her physical therapy, speech therapy, doctors appt etc. I get daily statements from horizon blue cross. Sometimes several a day. Is this normal? Is this necessary? Do I need to save everything? It’s crazy.
Val, first, I've never dealt with Horizon BC, but I think daily reports or whatever is a bit excessive, not to mention poor planning and a waste of paper, and certainly not climate change conscious.
Are these e-mailed? Have you spoken with someone at the company about consolidation of statements?
I think the key to paperwork management is to develop a system that works for you, a system with categories for different kinds of data, ranging from medical to financial and anything in-between.
You can experiment with options suggested here, or find something that works for you. Indexing helps a lot.
I use 3 ring binders, as I've done for years, with categories for medical, and subcategories for specialties; that's for the medical documentation, histories, surgeries, etc. I have separate ones for taxes, with categories for income (SS, VA, cap gains) and expenses (medical) and deductions (charitable).
Try different methods and see what works for you.
And as you do it, consider what you need access to the most, and the best way to store it.
One of the reasons I bind everything in a 3 ring binders is b/c of the ease of use. I used to use file folders with data on both sides, but that doesn't work well for the multitude of categories needed for caregiving.
I also have separate binders for lists such as facilities, adaptive contractors, senior centers with good reference facilities, etc. Those are the ones I don't use as much.
I set up a library. I bought a slew of pink binders large & small & stored on the right side of the cabinet. My spouse - blue binders large & small, stored on the left side of the same cabinet . Income taxes in a blue handled plastic bin for spouse and I. Mom's were put into a yellow topped bin. Normal routine business for myself, I bought several red binders - medium & small size. Stored those in another cabinet. Bank statement for any and every account. I stored those in a box that would get emptied after using several reams of paper for letters and copies.
At the start of the Medicaid odyssey, 5 years of bank statements were required for any account or investment method. After a couple boxes were full I took the first 3 year's statements and took it to the office/printing supplies & services store. I set up an awards account so I could get an occasional discount and asked them to shrink wrap the stuff since I'll need to store it for an unknown period of time. Shrink wrapping also allows the papers to be compressed in the plastic, saving space in your cabinet. I took my empty print cartridges to the store also, so I could get a little credit for recycling. (Note I picked a 3 yr. time frame because Medicaid often requested duplicates of documents already sent/received. (We'd receive the transmission sheet acknowledging receipt). That said, I can not remotely count the number of times I had to resubmit documents. So I always kept the most recent 12 months statements within immediate reach.
Make sure upfront, that providers and others know you are the manager, the point person, and the advocate for your family member. From manager/administrator to direct care staff within their agency, facility, or office, it's their position they must prioritize if they expect to work the next day to even have the opportunity to consider helping your mom.
Glad u receive something daily, I receive my statements long after I am billed.
For me, the Blue Cross statement is the most important. You will see what Medicare paid and what BC picks up. With us, we have a "share" amount we are responsible for. Our BC doesn't cover the whole 20%.
Medicare sends out their statement showing what they approved and then 80% of that. That info is sent to the supplimental and they pay 20% of the proved amount unless, like me, we share.
I keep my paperwork long enough to match up Medicare statements and BC statements. If the doctors bills match up I pay them and disregard the Medicare and BC statements. I only keep them if I have had a problem with a doctors billing.
You will need the EOB'S (Explanation of Benefits) to compare to the bills received to make sure everything is correct and has been paid. Occasionally you will receive things that need to be kept for records such as approvals or denials to appeal. It is an enormous amount of work. I suggest keeping separate files for the year: EOB for prescriptions, EOB for medical, and one for all other correspondence from the insurance company. This way if you need to put your hands on something quickly, you can. Another option is to scan the pages and store them electronically in an online cloud such as Dropbox or One drive. This is my preferred method as I have them available any time, any where. I still keep the paper copies in file folders because if not, my mom would probably have another stroke and I'm not going through that again :-D (sorry if my humor offends anyone lol)
If it's not a bill,... I put it in a corner... Oh wait,,, all the papers are in corners and boxes...
Yup youre right... I DON'T KNOW EITHER...
Are these e-mailed? Have you spoken with someone at the company about consolidation of statements?
I think the key to paperwork management is to develop a system that works for you, a system with categories for different kinds of data, ranging from medical to financial and anything in-between.
You can experiment with options suggested here, or find something that works for you. Indexing helps a lot.
I use 3 ring binders, as I've done for years, with categories for medical, and subcategories for specialties; that's for the medical documentation, histories, surgeries, etc. I have separate ones for taxes, with categories for income (SS, VA, cap gains) and expenses (medical) and deductions (charitable).
Try different methods and see what works for you.
And as you do it, consider what you need access to the most, and the best way to store it.
One of the reasons I bind everything in a 3 ring binders is b/c of the ease of use. I used to use file folders with data on both sides, but that doesn't work well for the multitude of categories needed for caregiving.
I also have separate binders for lists such as facilities, adaptive contractors, senior centers with good reference facilities, etc. Those are the ones I don't use as much.
At the start of the Medicaid odyssey, 5 years of bank statements were required for any account or investment method. After a couple boxes were full I took the first 3 year's statements and took it to the office/printing supplies & services store. I set up an awards account so I could get an occasional discount and asked them to shrink wrap the stuff since I'll need to store it for an unknown period of time. Shrink wrapping also allows the papers to be compressed in the plastic, saving space in your cabinet. I took my empty print cartridges to the store also, so I could get a little credit for recycling.
(Note I picked a 3 yr. time frame because Medicaid often requested duplicates of documents already sent/received. (We'd receive the transmission sheet acknowledging receipt). That said, I can not remotely count the number of times I had to resubmit documents. So I always kept the most recent 12 months statements within immediate reach.
Make sure upfront, that providers and others know you are the manager, the point person, and the advocate for your family member. From manager/administrator to direct care staff within their agency, facility, or office, it's their position they must prioritize if they expect to work the next day to even have the opportunity to consider helping your mom.
Please check back so we know how you're doing.
For me, the Blue Cross statement is the most important. You will see what Medicare paid and what BC picks up. With us, we have a "share" amount we are responsible for. Our BC doesn't cover the whole 20%.
Medicare sends out their statement showing what they approved and then 80% of that. That info is sent to the supplimental and they pay 20% of the proved amount unless, like me, we share.
I keep my paperwork long enough to match up Medicare statements and BC statements. If the doctors bills match up I pay them and disregard the Medicare and BC statements. I only keep them if I have had a problem with a doctors billing.