Billing Woes

Back in October, around the time that Pa died, Stanford sent me a bill for $324.52. This was odd because I had already paid my max out-of-pocket for the year. When I looked into the claim, it showed an NPI number (National Provider Identifier) for a doctor I've never heard of and was out of network. That's why Cigna only partially covered the claim.

My doctor's name is Jennifer L. Caswell-Jin. The doctor on the claim is Jennifer L. McNally. Same first name and middle initial. I remember having to make several phone calls to Stanford and Cigna and spending a lot of time on hold. Stanford finally agreed to review the claim. I believe I also asked Dr. Caswell about Dr. McNally, and she had never heard of her.

Stanford never got back to me, and the bill disappeared from my account, so I thought they fixed the problem and resubmitted the claim to Cigna. But this morning I received an email about the bill. It's back on my account. Stanford's billing department is closed today for the holidays. I called Cigna (and got a poor Filipina working on Christmas Day). They confirmed that the claim was not resubmitted.

I will have to try Stanford again on Monday. They'd better be open then. If they still give me problems, I can call Cigna and request a 3-way call with Stanford.

Update: The problem was on Cigna's end and has been resolved.