Process
Who We Serve
- Personal Injury
- Mass Tort
- Medical Malpractice
- Social Security Benefits
- Workers Compensation
How the Process Works
In theory, the Medical Document Retrieval process is an easy one. The ideal request is as follows:
- The requestor sends a written request and HIPAA compliant authorization to a medical provider for records.
- The medical provider sends the requested records back to the requestor along with an invoice for the copy fees, if any.
In reality, the process is more difficult.
Here are a few examples of issues which may occur and how XeBee can help.
Issue
Problems with the Provider
The provider may have closed down or moved. It may have shipped records to an off-site storage facility or to another provider’s office, leading you to hunt down the chart in many places. Additionally, a provider may have destroyed the requested records. Legally, a medical provider is only required to keep medical information for seven years. You may need to obtain certification that there are no records to obtain.
XeBee's Solution
If you provide XeBee with the provider’s name, phone number, and city/state, XeBee will track down the provider for you. We will inform you if records are available. If not, you may elect to have us obtain written certification of no records or no patient from that facility.
Issue
Problems with the Initial Request and Authorization
You may need to fax or mail a request more than once to a medical provider. You may not have the correct fax number or your request may somehow never make it to its intended recipient. For any number of reasons, a facility may not accept the authorization you sent them. The provider may require you to complete a specific authorization, which you must in turn have your client complete.
XeBee's Solution
| XeBee verifies the receipt of the request by the provider. If the provider does not accept your authorization, XeBee will send you their unique authorization. For your convenience, XeBee has an authorization repository for those providers who require the use of their own unique authorization. You may download one at any time. You may also download a generic HIPAA authorization that is acceptable by most facilities. | ||
Issue
Following up on the Requests
You may need to follow up several times to make sure the provider is working on your request. Some providers have dedicated medical records departments. Some providers may have administrators pull the requested charts and have copy services fulfill the requests for them. You may be transferred to several departments within a medical office. You may have to contact a third-party copy service. In many cases, copying medical information is not a high priority for the staff of medical offices, and the information does not get copied in a timely manner. You need to be committed to following up.
XeBee's Solution
Following up on requests is perhaps the most important part of the collections process. Depending on the age of the request and the specific medical provider, XeBee may follow up on a request every 7 days to daily. XeBee keeps track of the relevant provider and copy service contact names to ensure that the correct people are contacted for each request. XeBee’s call agents undergo comprehensive training and are strictly professional in their interactions with providers.
Issue
Sending Payment in Advance of Receiving Records
Some medical offices charge for copying records. For example, according to Colorado Statute 6 C.C.R. 1011-1, Chapter 2, Part 5.2.3.4, the amount a medical provider can charge for records is $18.53 for the first 10 pages, $.85 for pages 11 to 40, and then $.50 per page beyond the page count of 40. Each state has its own laws concerning copy fees. Additionally, providers may elect to have the fee paid up front, before the delivery of records. In some cases, a credit card payment may be made over the phone. Other facilities only accept payment by check.
XeBee's Solution
XeBee takes care of issuing payment for all medical records, whether it be for advance payments or for invoices that are sent with medical records. When available, payment is made via credit card. XeBee also establishes a specific threshold payment amount for each of its customers. If the fee for records exceeds the threshold amount, XeBee will obtain permission from you before issuing payment.
Issue
Receiving your records
Once a request is fulfilled, records can be mailed, faxed, or uploaded to a third-party company’s website. You may have to log in to several different websites to access records from different providers. There is a chance that your fax machine may be tied up for a long period of time because you are receiving a large job. Or, you may simply receive a box containing hundreds of pages of paper records. In this case, you are left with paper records and it is your responsibility to scan and house them.
XeBee's Solution
Once XeBee receives records, it carefully scans them, ensuring all double sided pages are accounted for and all pages are correctly formatted (i.e. no pages are upside-down). All documents are then processed through our OCR (optical character recognition) software so that all files we deliver to you are text searchable. XeBee then uploads your records onto www.app.XeBee.com for you to access, making the entire process paperless. While XeBee makes every attempt to have records delivered directly to its Commerce City office, there are times when records are sent directly to you. You may keep the records or arrange to have XeBee scan and store them in our online repository for you.
Partners
