It's a good thing to have a medical or health insurance policy. It's great to pay your rates as and when due. It's also soothing to know that your insurer is a reliable entity you can trust. However, it's a lot more important that you ensure your policy has features that will give the value you deserve. Why pay for stuff that leaves you inadequately covered? Here are a few things to insist on...

1. Make sure your medical insurance policy includes world-wide non-emergency coverage. The only people who this shouldn't bother are those who've vowed never to step out of their countries. But if you do intend to ever go on vacation abroad, you'll do well to ensure your health insurance plan will still cover you medical expenses there.

2. Make sure your policy has no coverage limits. Where this is NOT possible, look for one with a very high coverage limit. $1 million is a good limit per claim. And for lifetime coverage limits, look for something as high as $2 million. Remember, although you may pay a lot less for policies that offer very low coverage limits, you might be putting yourself or family in a financial mess if you ever need medical care that far exceeds that limit.

If you're one of those folks who rarely fall ill, then you might just go for a catastrophic health insurance policy. This policy kicks in when you have catastrophic health conditions that could literally render a person destitute. The cost per $100,000 coverage is quite low when compared with regular policies. And at the same time, you have the peace of mind that you are covered whatever happens.

3. It's also a good idea to ensure you can see whichever specialist you need to see without a referral. Yes, this will mean you will pay more but would you rather have to beg to see the right specialist if you or yours have a serious health condition that requires specialist and urgent attention?

These features will definitely mean higher rates. But do you know that you can still pay a lot less? All you have to do is get and compare many quotes from a wide range of insurers.

Different insurers have different loss histories and underwriting criteria and these affect rates you get. Therefore, good comparison shopping ensures that you find an insurer that has the best rates for your profile.



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Custom ICD-9 Coding automation software saves clinics thousands to millions of man hours. The software reads the file of thousands of reports and fee sheets and separates them into collated exams. The parsing engine pulls information like procedure codes, doctor up-ins, POS, Dept, etc.. into a data file associated with each exam. This process happens nightly. The original source files are stored in a backup location.

In the morning, coders come in and are presented each exam in order of date, insurance type, and department (POS-DEPT). This saves hours in printing and sorting by hand. The coder need only look at the procedure code and skim the report to enter the appropriate ICD-9 code and hit next. If additional procedures need to be added, they can be on the fly. Data checks are performed before the exam is passed on to the next process. Coders can add a note to each exam for reference at other stages of the process. The report and fee sheet can be toggled for viewing with a single click of the mouse.

The exam then goes to enhancing for insurance and demographic verification. There are 2 virtual bins for exams that are missing information or have follow up exams associated with them. Fields can still be edited at this point for correcting up-ins and attending physician codes.

The exam goes to charging where it is presented again in sorted order. The exam can be entered into the charging software's fields manually or using a custom add-on, can be pasted with a single click of the mouse.

That night, all batched/charged exams are converted into pdf format and stored in a searchable history folder.


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Physicians today have many responsibilities scheduling appointments, filing paperwork, upkeep of the office, and all done while caring for their patients It can seem like an insurmountable problem when the physician has to set time aside to bill their clients and insurance companies.

It may seem like all they have to do is just fill in the blanks and send it off, however there is a lot more involved and the physician has to take time away from his or her patients to get it all done.

When a physician has to take the time to sort through insurance paperwork, he or she has less time to spend with patients. This can lead to a physician turning away patients because he or she does not have the time to see them.

Medical billing services were developed to assist physicians in managing their medical practices. It allows physicians more time to care for patients and less time sitting in their office staring at stacks upon stacks of paperwork.

Statistics indicate that an average of thirty percent of all medical claims sent to insurance companies never get paid. The total amount that is never paid each year is staggering, however there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Medical billing services can guarantee up to a ninety eight percent return on the claims that they process, making it cost effective for even the smallest practice.

What many physicians do not take into consideration is that there is a cost to process each claim with an insurance company. This cost can reach as high as ten dollars per claim. A Medical billing service can reduce this cost to only a fraction of what is charged to physicians.

Another aspect of billing is that the physician must wait up to three months before the insurance company processes their claims. This can create serious financial hardships for the physician if he or she cannot meet their weekly or monthly financial obligations. Medical billing services file their claims electronically and monitor each one to ensure that the repayment period is days and not months. When a physician uses Medical billing services, the amount of errors and rejections are reduced to almost none.

The rules, regulations and laws regarding insurance and billing change or are updated frequently. This means that a physician who does their own medical billing has to struggle between keeping current with all of the updates and caring for patients. It can seem like an endless battle. Medical billing services can help because they are up to date on any changes that are initiated.

By using a medical billing service, the physician is free to care for more patients and give each one more of his or her attention.

One of the greatest advantages of Medical billing services is that any physician can use them. Whether it is a practice with a hundred doctors or just one, each physician will receive the same quality service.

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