Organizing Your Medical Bills

Article submitted by Medical Bill Review.
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Keeping your medical bills and related paperwork, organized is a stressful task. Here are some tips on organizing and keeping track of your medical bills.

Sort Your Bills

• Make a separate file folder for each provider (doctor, hospital, lab, ambulance service, suppliers, etc.).
• Arrange each provider's bills by date with the most recent one on top.

Sort Your Explanation of Medicare Benefits (EOMB) or Medicare Summary Notice (MSN) Forms

• Medicare sends you an EOMB or MSN for each claim, showing you the amount of the bill, amount carrier approved and paid, and amount you still owe.
• Match each EOMB or MSN with the corresponding medical bill in the folders for each provider.
• Some EOMBs or MSNs list claims from more than one provider, you should make copies of these for each provider's folder.
• If you don't have an EOMB or MSN for each bill, it probably means that Medicare hasn't finished processing.

If You Have Supplemental or Secondary Coverage

• Wait until you receive your EOMB or MSN from your primary carrier.
• If your provider did not submit your claim to your supplemental/secondary carrier, then submit the provider's bill along with the Primary EOMB or MSN to your Supplemental/ Secondary Insurance Carrier.
• Keep a copy of what you send, with the date you sent it, in your folder.
• Sort your Secondary claims by provider and match them to the corresponding provider bills and EOMB or MSN in the same folders.

Make Payments

• Pay your portion of the providers' bills by personal check.
• If you get a check for a provider from Medicare, deposit it in your account and write your own check.
• Your cancelled checks and bank statements will provide proof of your payments, as well as back-up records of your medical spending.