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In response to
"Re B2 Quote: "We will take the best ideas of both parties.""
by
Beryllium
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The funniest proposition in both party's bills is the one requiring all ins. companies, Medicare and Medicaid to use one set of universal forms.
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*ahem* That law was passed about 16-17 years ago. Seriously. Add to that the fact that any provider who sees more than 10 patients in a week, the claims have to be sent electronically, via internet or modem, using high encryption. I read some newspaper article the other day discribing the BEST 5 things in each party's bills--and standardized forms was mentioned in each. Now I know I'm not a brilliant politician or even one of their brainy nerd aides, but I swear that I'd do at least a LITTLE bit of research before throwing stuff, willy nilly, into an upcoming bill just to make it look like you're accomplishing something.
For Hospital and SNF bills, use the UB2007 (paper or electronic billing)
physician bills and out of hospital out patient services--use the HCFA1500. (paper or electronic billing)
Pharmacy bills (including Medicare part D) The claim is filed to the correct insurance company as soon as the prescription is keyed in. The approval comes back in less than a minute telling the patient what their co-pay will be.
Bought and Rented durable medical equipment (I can't remember the form number but it's set up to be filed electronically).
Way back in the day when I started doing this kind of work, every insurance company had their own proprietary form. It was really dumb because sometimes the forms were identical except one might be blue and one might be yellow. The doctors hated it, using them were obvious claim killers, so a bunch of docs from the AMA got the universal forms bill passed. I'm just sitting here shaking my head. Sometimes there's "dumb" and sometimes there is "DUM". A raging group of the latter has taken over writing the health care legislation.
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