KWR-Best way to keep track of medical bills

Well honestly, it shouldn't take 3 months to get the EOB.. you need to speak with your doctors office about this, they are the ones filing it, and maybe they aren't doing it in a timely manner.

I do billing and coding for a doctors office, so here are my thoughts.

It sounds like your doctors office (or their billing company) are very slow to bill out claims. They're not wrong to be a few months behind, but it's annoying for sure. Most insurance companies allow anywhere from 120 days to a year to file claims.

If their statements work at all like ours do, the whole 60-90 days thing is based on the date of service. So even though it's your first bill, the computer system sees it as past due based on the date of service.

Would an Excel spreadsheet work for you to organize everything?

I thought about Excel but want to keep everything together with paperwork.

@WindowsChick...that's horrible. Like you aren't going thru enough n then to have to babysit bills to avoid double billing ETA Thanks for field listing.

Anyway to track your EOB's online? My insurance does this and then I can see when I have a bill coming up. I agree with keeping a binder. I always call and tell the insurance company this is the first bill I have received and call your doctors office and talk to their billing department, that is not okay!

Well...reviewing all of this & start to list the fields/having calculations = Excel might be what I need to do. Thanks for the advice all!

And if there are other fields I should add, please let me know : )

@Kristin, IDK about EOBs online...I'll see how this binder/Excel system works for me & may need to think about your suggestion more?!?

Is it just one drs office this is happening with?

Another thought, is your insurance carrier being slow to process claims? I live in IL, which is basically the most financially fucked up state in the country. There's a Cigna plan that is funded through the state (not a Medicaid plan) and they are almost 24 months behind in paying claims. It's a headache. If your insurance is just slow to process claims, there's nothing the drs office can do about it.

I feel it's the ins co as it's not just one Dr.

My doctors are horrendous with their billing. I went recently and they told me I owed like $1200... turns out they were billing the wrong insurance company... One big thing I dislike, is not all my specialists give me my copay amount at the visit, they bill me later. Next thing you know you're getting a bill for $200-300 for multiple visits. I wish they wouldn't do that. I'd rather pay at each visit, not get a lump sum bill.

I keep my bills in a filing cabinet next to my computer desk, sorted by doctor.

I've actually been told I owed bills but never received a bill, that's always pleasant to find out. I get bills probably 2-3 months after my visit as well. It's so frustrating.

That's very annoying. I honestly to god hate most insurance companies.

I think Excel may be the easiest way to organize. And then just file the eobs in a folder for each provider.