Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Insurance Claim Review”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 307 records · Page 17Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

An evaluation of Oregon's evidence-based Practitioner-Managed Prescription Drug Plan.

This paper describes Oregon's implementation of its publicly developed, evidence-based, Practitioner-Managed Prescription Drug Plan (PMPDP). Oregon's PMPDP was initially self-enforced with a dispense as written (DAW) exception process, followed by an educational prior authorization (soft PA) method, and finally no active enforcement. Market-share trends indicate that the educational prior authorization process was most effective at increasing the use of preferred agents. Pharmacy costs decreased 9.1 percent and 17.7 percent after implementation of the DAW and soft PA policies, respectively. Data from nonenforced PMPDP classes showed no change; this suggests the need for effective methods to encourage PMPDP compliance.

Evidence-Based Medicine↗
PubMed1997

Maximizing your chances of getting an insurance approval the first time.

BACKGROUND: Support staffs for any bariatric surgeon are confronted with daily requests for information, rejections and non responses. Although we are only in control of one-half of the process (with the insurer holding the other cards), there are specific things which can be done to minimize the amount of time spent on each individual claim and maximize your chances of getting it done the first time. METHODS: This paper explores an attorney/obesity rights advocate's various approaches which successfully lead to the overturning of denials by an insurance company or HMO. Implementing such techniques by the surgeon's office may assist some patients in getting approved without having to hire counsel. RESULTS: By standardizing certain repetitively sought information, utilizing existing technology and creating comprehensive checklists, providers can comprehensively process patient claims with an eye toward providing all necessary information from the start. In addition, 'local knowledge' of the propensities of particular insurers must be documented and kept in mind so that inevitable requests for additional information can be minimized. Lastly, a 'crash course' in insurance law may assist your patients' chances to get approved. CONCLUSIONS: Some denials will not be overturned without the assistance of qualified counsel. However, some potential denials can be defeated before they start by carefully documenting files, using technology to provide ample information for the insurance company decision makers, knowing some basic insurance law and by actively seeking your patient's involvement in their claims.

Gastric Bypass↗
PubMed2000

Effectiveness of sealant treatment over five years in an insured population.

BACKGROUND: The authors analyzed an insurance claim database to evaluate the use and effectiveness of placing sealants on first and second permanent molars of children in private dental practices. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted using an insured population with sealant coverage at 70 percent of the usual fee in a preferred provider organization than that limited reapplication to once every three years. Children were selected who were eligible for sealant benefits from July 1, 1990, to June 30, 1991. Two groups were selected for analysis, based on age, as determined by permanent molar eruption dates. Children who received sealants were compared with those who did not to determine post-sealant restorative outcomes after five years. RESULTS: During the full year of coverage, sealants were used in only 16.3 percent of first permanent molars and 11.6 percent of second permanent molars. The five-year incidence of an occlusal restoration having been placed was 13.7 percent and 20.8 percent, respectively, on nonsealed first and second molars and 6.5 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively, on sealed first and second molars. From years three to five, sealant placement provided only nominal additional preventive effect. CONCLUSIONS: In the population selected, both the incidence of occlusal caries and the use of sealants were lower than expected for both age groups. However, within these groups, molar occlusal surfaces were only half as likely to have been restored in sealed teeth than in nonsealed teeth after five years. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Based on the five-year data from a population with a low incidence of caries, the authors found that 15 sealed first permanent molars or 10 sealed second permanent molars prevented placement of one occlusal restoration. Therefore, sealants are more effective when placed in patients with risk factors for occlusal caries.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

The ins and outs of dental insurance.

BACKGROUND: In the past three decades, dental insurance has become a permanent fixture in the delivery of dental services. Some would argue that this has not been good for dentists. However, none will dispute that it is here to stay and that dentists must make some very important decisions in their practices with regard to dental insurance. This article will explore some of those decisions and offer some guidance on how to decide wisely. CONCLUSIONS: Dental insurance now is a permanent fixture in the delivery of dental care. Each dentist must decide if participation with a dental insurance company is in his or her best interest. To make this decision, a dentist must have as much information as possible to evaluate each specific dental plan. If a dentist does decide to participate, the dentist must know the rules. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Participation with a dental insurance company may influence the dentist-patient relationship. Dentists must be prepared to answer the question, "Why do I need this service if my dental insurance does not cover it?" Non-participation with a dental insurance company may result in a reduced number of new patients.

Computer Communication Networks↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Direct costs of opioid abuse in an insured population in the United States.

OBJECTIVE: To (a) describe the demographics of opioid abusers; (b) compare the prevalence rates of selected comorbidities and the medical and drug utilization patterns of opioid abusers with patients from a control group, for the period from 1998 to 2002; and (c) calculate the mean annual per-patient total health care costs (e.g., inpatient, outpatient, emergency room, drug, other) from the perspective of a private payer. METHODS: An administrative database of medical and pharmacy claims from 1998 to 2002 of 16 self-insured employer health plans with approximately 2 million lives was used to identify "opioid abusers"--patients with claims associated with ICD-9-CM (International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification) codes for opioid abuse (304.0, 304.7, 305.5, and 965.0 [excluding 965.01]). A control group of nonabusers was selected using a matched sample (by age, gender, employment status, and census region) in a 3:1 ratio. Per-patient annual health care costs (mean total medical and drug costs) were measured in 2003 U.S. dollars. Multivariate regression techniques were also used to control for comorbidities and to compare costs with a benchmark of depressed patients. RESULTS: 740 patients were identified as opioid abusers, a prevalence of 8 in 10,000 persons aged 12 to 64 years continuously enrolled in health care plans for whom 12 months of data were available for calculating costs. Opioid abusers, compared with nonabusers, had significantly higher prevalence rates for a number of specific comorbidities, including nonopioid poisoning, hepatitis (A, B, or C), psychiatric illnesses, and pancreatitis, which were approximately 78, 36, 9, and 21 (P<0.01) times higher, respectively, compared with nonabusers. Opioid abusers also had higher levels of medical and prescription drug utilization. Almost 60% of opioid abusers had prescription drug claims for opioids compared with approximately 20% for nonabusers. Prevalence rates for hospital inpatient visits for opioid abusers were more than 12 times higher compared with nonabusers (P<0.01). Mean annual direct health care costs for opioid abusers were more than 8 times higher than for nonabusers ($15,884 versus $1,830, respectively, P < 0.01). Hospital inpatient and physician-outpatient costs accounted for 46% ($7,239) and 31% ($5,000) of opioid abusers. health care costs, compared with 17% ($310) and 50% ($906), respectively, for nonabusers. Mean drug costs for opioid abusers were more than 5 times higher than costs for nonabusers ($2,034 vs. $386, respectively, P<0.01), driven by higher drug utilization (including opioids) for opioid abusers. Even when controlling for comorbidities using a multivariate regression model of a matched control of depressed patients, the average health care costs of opioid abusers were 1.8 times higher than the average health care costs of depressed patients. CONCLUSION: The high costs of opioid abuse were driven primarily by high prevalence rates of costly comorbidites and high utilization rates of medical services and prescription drugs.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Consumer understanding and satisfaction associated with a 3-tier prescription drug benefit.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research was to investigate consumer understanding and satisfaction associated with a 3-tier prescription drug benefit among users of the prescription drug benefit. METHODS: This study involved a self-administered postal questionnaire and the use of prescription drug claims to evaluate utilization of prescription medications. Fifteen hundred subjects were randomly selected based on the following inclusion criteria. Each subject had to (1) be enrolled in a 3-tier copayment ($10 generic, $20 formulary brand, $35 nonformulary brand) prescription drug benefit; (2) be the primary beneficiary (cardholder); (3) be >18 years of age; (4) have received at least 1 prescription medication using his or her prescription drug insurance; and (5) have a mailing address on file. RESULTS: A total of 479 usable responses were returned (35% response rate). The mean (SD) understanding score was 2.22 (1.54) (range: 0 to 6). Fewer than 1% of respondents correctly answered all 6 items used to measure the level of understanding. The mean (SD) satisfaction score was 54.32 (19.69) (range: 0 to 100). Experience with purchasing a medication within a particular copayment tier was predictive of correctly answering the item related to that tier.s copayment amount. Multiple regression analysis revealed a relationship between the amount of use of the drug benefit and the degree of satisfaction with the drug benefit. There was no significant relationship between the level of understanding and the degree of satisfaction with prescription drug insurance. CONCLUSION: The average level of beneficiary understanding of the 3-tier copayment prescription drug benefit was very low, and the average degree of respondent satisfaction appeared to be near neutral. There was no significant relationship between the level of understanding and the degree of satisfaction with prescription drug benefits. The level of understanding was proportional to the amount of drug benefit use, but the degree of satisfaction was not related to the amount of drug benefit use.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Utilization and cost of sildenafil in a large managed care organization with a quantity limit on sildenafil.

OBJECTIVE: Erectile dysfunction (ED) affects approximately 30 million men in the United States. The objectives of this study were to (1) assess the cost and utilization of sildenafil citrate (Viagra), an oral therapeutic agent for ED, in a large managed care organization (MCO) with a quantity limit of 6 units per 30-day supply and (2) describe the incidence of comorbid conditions and the severity of cardiovascular disease in adult male users of sildenafil. METHODS: Pharmacy claims for sildenafil were identified from an administrative database of claims with dates of service in calendar year 2001 for male members aged 18 years or older. Medical claims for MCO members who had sildenafil claims were used to identify comorbid diseases and categorize patients by degree of cardiovascular risk. High risk was defined as having at least 1 medical claim with a diagnosis of diabetes mellitus, ischemic heart disease, abdominal aortic aneurysm, or peripheral arterial disease, and medium risk was defined as not having any diagnosis in the high-risk category but at least 1 cardiovascular risk factor that included smoking, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, family history of premature coronary heart disease, or being aged 45 years or older. RESULTS: There were 67,914 pharmacy claims for sildenafil during 2001 for 20,281 MCO members, an average of 3.3 pharmacy claims per patient. The prevalence of sildenafil use was 54.1 per 1,000 male MCO members aged 18 years or older. The total allowed charges for sildenafil pharmacy claims in 2001 were 3.56 million US dollars, of which patients paid 26.6% in average cost-share, and the net MCO cost per member per month (PMPM) was 0.18 US dollars. A total of 1,681 patients (8.3%) exceeded their quantity restrictions for sildenafil tablets in 2001, of which 1,362 (81.0%) paid cash and 319 (19.0%, or 1.6% of all sildenafil users) appealed and received approval from the MCO for additional sildenafil tablets beyond the restriction of 6 tablets per month. Medical claims were available for 15,644 sildenafil patients (77.1%), and 12,720 sildenafil users (81.3% of those with medical claims) were judged to be at high or medium cardiovascular risk. CONCLUSIONS: A quantity limit of 6 tablets of sildenafil per 30-day period was associated with a drug cost to users and the MCO of 0.25 US dollars PMPM. Sildenafil users paid an average cost-share of 26.6%, resulting in a net drug cost of 0.18 US dollars PMPM to the MCO.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed2006

Economic burden of deep-vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and post-thrombotic syndrome.

PURPOSE: Deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) are associated with major morbidity and mortality, with their burden often extending to longer-term complications such as event recurrence and post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS). Few data exist on the overall economic burden of DVT and PE and their sequelae. A retrospective observational cohort study was conducted to determine the direct medical costs of a DVT or PE patient across the entire continuum of care. SUMMARY: Administrative claims data for patients with a DVT or PE diagnosis (ICD-9-CM code) and patients with possible evidence of PTS between January 1, 1997, and March 31, 2004, were extracted from the PharMetrics Patient-Centric Database, which comprises fully adjudicated medical and pharmaceutical claims for U.S. health care-plan enrollees. Resource utilization and annualized direct medical costs of care for patients with DVT and/or PE were calculated and compared with matched controls. A total of 26,958 patients met the study inclusion criteria. Of the 17,634 patients evaluable for the PTS cohort, 663 (3.8%) patients experienced PTS. Patients with DVT, PE, or DVT and PE had higher annualized direct medical costs before the index (initial) DVT and/or PE event (median: $7227, $6381, and $6771, respectively) than controls (median: $1045). During and after the DVT/PE event, annualized median costs rose to $17,512, $18,901, and $25,554, respectively, compared with $680 in the control group. Annualized median total costs for the PTS group were $20,569 compared with $15,843 in matched controls with DVT and/or PE and no PTS. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that the initial acute DVT or PE event is associated with high total health care costs and that these costs are further increased by subsequent events such as recurrent DVT or PE and PTS. Early detection and appropriate treatment of this high-risk population have the potential for both clinical and economic benefits.

Cost of Illness↗
PubMed2002

Accident insurance, sickness, and science: New Zealand's no-fault system.

This article explores the process of seeking compensation for occupational illness under a no-fault accident insurance scheme. The author uses two case studies--firefighters who attended a fire at a chemical storage depot and timbermill workers who worked with pentachlorophenol--to illustrate how science can be used to deny compensation to sick and dying workers. The results of the studies suggest that a no-fault accident compensation scheme, considered to be a victory for workers, offers no guarantee of just outcomes for working people. And science can be co-opted and used to support business and state interests against workers; this ideological support is increasingly hidden behind the development of "objective" systems of assessing compensation claims.

Capitalism↗
PubMed1991

Premiums without benefits: waste and inefficiency in the commercial health insurance industry.

The U.S. system of health insurance is wasteful and inefficient. For every dollar the commercial health insurance industry paid in claims in 1988, the industry spent 33.5 cents for administration, marketing, and other overhead expenses. Thus, not including profits, the commercial insurance industry spent 14 times as much on administration, overhead, and marketing per dollar of claims paid as did the Medicare system, and 11 times as much per dollar of claims paid as the Canadian national health system. Had an efficient public program such as Medicare or the Canadian system provided the same amount of benefits, consumers and businesses served by commercial insurers would have saved $13 billion. The sources of waste include excessive marketing costs and administrative costs bloated by discriminatory underwriting practices that segregate the profitable groups and individuals--people who are healthy, young, and in "safe" professions--from everyone else.

Canada↗
PubMed2004

Unpaid radiology claims in New Jersey: incidence and financial implications.

OBJECTIVE: Nonpayment of claims by insurers may lead to major financial losses by physicians. These losses may far exceed the losses from late payment that we studied previously, although it is late payment that has been the primary focus of legislation enacted in 47 states. This article quantifies the loss to radiologists from nonpayment of claims submitted to payers on behalf of patients with insurance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed all claims (48,217) submitted in February, June, and October 2000 to six major payers by a common third-party billing company on behalf of 11 radiology practices in New Jersey. Claims were categorized as unpaid (unpaid > 170 days after submission), paid timely (within 40 days of submission, the criterion of the New Jersey Prompt-Pay Act, effective December 28, 1999), or paid late (40-170 days after submission). A detailed analysis of 5,638 claims from the practice of two of the authors was used to estimate a "clean claims" (claims without defect or need for substantiation) submission rate. RESULTS: The revenue loss from unpaid claims was approximately $156,000, which was 28 times the loss of interest that should, according to law, have been paid on the delayed paid claims. Of the unpaid claims, the payers never disputed 68%, involving approximately $106,000. CONCLUSION: The financial consequences of unpaid claims far exceed those associated with late payment, even omitting all unpaid claims that were disputed by payers. Legislation coupled with active enforcement should address this large problem of unpaid claims, which is many times larger than the already legislatively targeted problem of late payment.

Health Maintenance Organizations↗
PubMed1998

Use of the Physician Insurers Association of America database as a surveillance tool for diabetes-related malpractice claims in the U.S.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the available national surveillance data on malpractice claims associated with diabetes and to determine the medical specialties having the highest number of claims and the classes and costs of filed claims relating to diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Data was abstracted from the Data Sharing Reports (DSRs) of the Physicians Insurers Association of America (PIAA), as well as a search of the PIAA's computerized database for the period spanning 1 January 1985 to 31 December 1996. Data on numbers of claims, medical causes of loss, indemnity paid, demographics of claimants and physicians, severity, and medical specialties with diabetes-related claims were available. RESULTS: A total of 906 diabetes claims were reported to PIAA, and the total indemnity paid was $26,892,848. A significant downward trend (P = 0.004) was noted for the period between 1993 and 1996. Diabetes claimants were older and predominantly male, relative to all claimants. Ophthalmology, internal medicine, and general and family practice had the highest rates of reported claims at 16.5, 13.6, and 13.4 diabetes claims per 1,000 claims, respectively. Of the diabetes-related injuries, 44% occurred in the practitioners office, as compared with 27% for all claims. A greater proportion of diabetes claims were associated with the highest level of severity of injury with respect to all claims compiled by the PIAA. CONCLUSIONS: The database of the PIAA can be a useful resource to monitor trends in diabetes-related malpractice. Further study into whether claims result from lack of adherence to practice guidelines is needed. Prevention programs designed to reduce the liability among high-risk specialties may also lead to improved care for the patient with diabetes.

Databases, Factual↗