Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with billing

Online Medical billing for small business

penny44 — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:50:14 -0800

I am starting my own business - an acupuncture clinic. I am planning on taking insurance and billing the insurance companies myself. Does anyone know the easiest way to do this? I have heard of online set-ups (not sure if they are free or not) but cant seem to find anything myself. Ideally, I could find something that was cheap/free and easy to use. I am in WA state ... if that is relevant. Thank you!

Paying up front?

corey flood — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:22:57 -0800

Is this a universal billing policy for dental work that I should have known about? Last week I went to the dentist for the first time in 15 years and need to have some fairly minor work done. Fine, no problem. I made an appointment for yesterday but ended up having to cancel unexpectedly on short notice. I'm now told that because the dentist lost two hours of work that he'd set aside for me, I now need to pre-pay for my services and then have the insurance reimburse me.

And I totally get that. He's got a business to run. But nobody mentioned anything about this or about cancellation policies up front. Is this just a standard operating procedure that anyone would assume if they were in the loop? (The last time I was pursuing dental care, my mom was handling the administrative end of things.) This practice has been exceptionally kind and helpful, so I don't want to give them a hard time, but am I wrong in thinking that I should have been told about their policies before making an appointment?

Skype support number?

furiousxgeorge — Fri, 22 May 2009 22:39:13 -0800

Is there a telephone support number for Skype? I'm having a problem with their billing and as far as I can tell this phone company does not have a phone. The E-mail support is not great either, which is why I'm looking for another way to get in touch.

Is Studiometry "plug and play"?

NekulturnY — Thu, 07 May 2009 09:12:56 -0800

Looking for heavy users to tell me all I need to know about Studiometry. Good? Bad? Good-but-buggy? Fast or freezes frequently? We're looking at studiometry as a billing, invoicing, dashboard ("how's business going this month?") tool. I just want to know if it's decent. What it needs to be: fast and intuitive and just nice.

Dealbreakers are: frequent bugs, freezes or slowness, and counterintuitive stuff ("how the hell do I add a client, and how the hell do I send him a bill").

And no, we don't want Basecamp.

Croatia Online!

benzenedream — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:25:36 -0800

What is the best way to get unlimited net access in Croatia without per minute data charges? We're going to Croatia for a few weeks and will need reliable net access for VPNing back home. I'm fine with paying a bit extra for a temporary DSL/Cable install - we will be staying in a home so mobile access is not necessary. Something faster than 56k modem speed would be preferred.

Any recommendations for billing and management software that allows me to resell hosting on a virtual dedicated server?

schindyguy — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:52:45 -0800

Any recommendations for billing and management software that allows me to resell hosting on a virtual dedicated server? I am planning to buy a virtual dedicated media temple server here and prepay for $500 a year. I have several website clients that have low bandwidth and disk needs so I thought it would be a good way to either get a free server out of it and/or make a little money. Media temple says there is no problem for me to do this which is great, but they dont have any recommendations for software to run and manage these multiple website hosting plans.

The post here only has a list of reseller hosts and mentions that it should have cpanel, databases, etc. But there is no mention of software they might use to power it.

I just dont really know if there is a standard software package that would be best. Obviously open source or free would help my wallet, but something with nominal costs is ok too (hopefully it will make it worth it in the end).

Features that I am looking for (but not required):

-Billing system (I usually bill clients through Quickbooks and I have no idea how a system like this would work). It would be nice if I could set different rate plans, auto charge credit cards, etc.
-Setting up multiple websites with different bandwidth speeds and storage space
-a control panel for the website owner to use and change their settings (like the godaddy domain manager and file manager)

The features above are just thoughts and in no way mean that I wouldnt consider something else that doesnt have those features (like credit card processing). Most of my clients would be willing to write me a check for a years worth of services so I wouldnt even have to deal with processing. I know a lot of people on here like Freshbooks for billing which looks like a good service to actually send invoices out.

I dont know if there is a single piece of software that can accomplish all this or its a matter of combining systems together to make it work. your thoughts and suggestions are very valuable to my decision.

Recommendations for online accounting?

gadha — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 08:18:36 -0800

Need recommendations for online billing, invoicing & book keeping solutions. I'm looking for a (preferably online) solution for keeping accounts of work done verses money coming in and out. Simple stuff for example, being able to credit accounts, and debit them according to work done. The ability to generate invoices would be good as well. Understanding of the UK would be great. Am alright to pay for it if required.

Any free/simple billing websites available?

olddogeyes — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 01:18:02 -0800

Is there a free website/service that allows simple billing? I pay for my daughters cell phone bill monthly but she has to pay $10 towards it. I'd like to "bill her" via email automatically every month to get her introduced to the responsibility of paying bills on time. Ideally this "billing service" would be free, would allow me to enter her email and sms and keep a running tab of what she owes. Has anyone built this yet? If not, any other suggestions?

Do I owe this money?

sian — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:15:57 -0800

Should I really owe the hospital $400 for tests I was unaware of? I had a terrible skin rash and I went into a dermatologist to get it checked out. He diagnosed it by sight as a strep infection of the skin, gave me a prescription for antibiotics, and sent me on my way. I got a call the following week from a nurse, who asked how I was doing--my antibiotics were finished, I was fine and I told her so.

Today, a month later, I got a $400 bill from the hospital for four different tests/cultures. (My deductible is $1k, so apparently they weren't covered). The doc didn't ask me whether I wanted them run. I had no idea he was going to run them and I had no idea that he had until I got this bill.

Am I 100% on the hook for paying this bill? It seems wrong to me that I'm being charged way more money than I have right now for stuff I was not told about. Can I resolve this with the hospital, and if so, how? Do I write a letter, and to whom? I contacted their billing department as soon as I got the letter and they are going to conduct an investigation into it, but the lady said it could be 45 days until they get back to me; am I going to get screwed by some statute-of-limitations-like loophole?

I am more than willing to pay the $100 for the doctor's visit, but I'm quite steamed about the rest. Aah, my first foray into the seamy underbelly of the health industry!

How much should I bill for a brochure layout?

nedpwolf — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:06:51 -0800

I designed a tri-fold brochure for an existing client who needed it in such a rush (requested it Thursday, sent to printer on Tuesday) that they didn't even have time to approve the final layout. I already designed their logo(s), pallets and branding "look" as part of a separate contract and am in the process of building their website. The brochure is not part the contract.

Some key facts:

All major graphic elements were already designed (by me) for the website.

The copy was already written by someone else, though it had to be edited.

I had to send a person to take quickie photos at their three sites (not a professional photographer, strictly a rush job).

This was a rush job. Other things had to be dropped to finish this.

I normally estimate proposals based on $75 / hour, then negotiate the contract after that.

Total design and editing time (excluding previously created graphics) was probably five hours.
Total communication time (conversations with the printer and the client) about 1 hour.
Total photography time (including travel) was about one and a half hours.

Based on hours alone, I come up with $412.50, which seems a little rich for their blood for a small one-off print piece, and I don't want to give them sticker shock since this will probably be an ongoing relationship.

Other info, if relevant:
They are a small, retail chain.
We are in an urban, southwest city.
They have never used professional design services before.

I would in particular appreciate any insight from small design firms.
Thanks much!

Is there an invoicing program that works well with Harvest's time tracking?

lemuria — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:37:05 -0800

Do you use Harvest for time tracking and another program for invoicing clients? How do you do it? I'm deciding between Freshbooks, Cashboard and Harvest for time tracking and billing clients. So far I'm liking Harvest's time tracking the best, but it doesn't have invoicing included.

I would like to have a way to export my data from Harvest into a separate billing program, so that I don't have to create my invoices by hand. There seem to be lots of sites that do billing: is there one out there that can do this easily? The only program mentioned on the Harvest site is Quickbooks, which I don't really want to use.

I'm still considering Freshbooks and Cashboard, so if you really love one of those I'd like to hear about that, too. Thanks!

How should I complain about this?

GrooveStix — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 19:11:33 -0800

Help me write a good complaint letter so I can get my $99 back. The billing department in my college failed to notify me that they changed their billing practices for the payment plan I use - a four installments plan.

In the past, when my financial aid passed, it respectively cleared the installments of my payment plan. This provided me enough time to gather enough funds, to pay what was left if my aid was short. It usually cleared the first three and I paid the last one.

In this semester when the financial aid passed, it was disbursed onto each payment equally, which left me with a due date in the beginning of the semester.

Now, had I known this, I would've saved and not spend cash on silly things during the summertime, but the problem is that I didn't know AND I wasn't notified about it when I signed up for the payment plan. It ultimately led me be late for three of the payments and pay $99 in late fees, which I believe belong to me. I have never received ANY late fees in my life (yes, I am young. I know. lol)

My question is, what arguments can I use to write a good complaint letter, besides the obvious inconsistency with their past practices. Is this legal? Is there a policy or an act that forbids things like this from happening? From an ethical point, it seems very unfair but I do think that our MeFi hive will have a better idea than me. Please help!

How do I do billing for a small consulting firm?

GeckoDundee — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 19:00:54 -0800

Can a total newbie very quickly teach himself to do (all of the) Billing for a small consulting firm? Easy, right? I don't know what system they use. I've never used Oracle, but I've done everything except Billing on SAP. Do I need to know things about sales taxes and such? Or link my data to Financial concerns? Can you point me to reliable tutorials online or elsewhere?

I'm asking for a friend, so don't be surprised if he chimes in with more details, answers your questions, etc.

Can medical providers commit extortion?

jorlando — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:14:24 -0800

My regular doctor quit the medical group and I was assigned to a new doctor. Its the second time in three years. The new doctor wouldn't renew any of my prescriptions without seeing me first. During the office visit, we met, chit-chat a bit, and I get the refills. Now I get a bill for $198. (adjusted to $142 by my major medical coverage) The medical group is the having trouble retaining staff. Shouldn't this visit be on their dime? I know this is probably a hopeless case and I should have made issue of it BEFORE the appointment. I questioned it briefly but caved in without a fight. I'm going to send a letter per the dispute instructions and ask for the bill to be eliminated or reduced.

I pay medical expenses out of pocket with HSA backed up by major medical coverage. I understood the concept of HSA is to get the individual more involved with controlling costs. The providers make it impossible to do so.

I'm also going to send a letter to my congressman and propose a law that requires fair and open billing by medical providers.

I'm looking for any suggestions or ideas on how to proceed. Or should I just shut up and pay?

Have insurance, so how do I deal with out-of-network charges from the ER?

Anonymous — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 14:52:22 -0800

I am insured through a PPO. I was taken to an out-of-network hospital following an accident with major trauma. Am I out of luck for the charges above and beyond the dreaded "usual, customary, and reasonable" charges? I was basically unconscious and not in any shape to dictate what insurance I had and where to take me, not that I would have figured the only Level I trauma center in the area wouldn't take my PPO. Whoops.

Now the bills are coming in and while I am certainly not poor, I don't have tens of thousands of liquid dollars to pay off the excessive charges from the hospital. I will likely be at the top of the sliding scale, or off it, since I figure it's based around the poverty line and I make around six figures.

I want to know if I have a legitimate gripe and what my best path of resolution is in order to avoid paying the excess charges. Is the hospital (it's public) likely to chop the charges down if I simply ask? Will I absolutely need to show proof of (lack of) assets, etc.? I am under no impression that the insurance company will be compassionate in this case, so I believe focusing on dealing with the hospital is the best bet.

My best idea at this point is to take the excess (balance) charges after the insurance payments, divide by some number, and offer it in cash upfront. I figure that will end up being 50-100% more than they would have received from me if I had simply paid the 10% copay I would at an in-network facility - rather than 1000% more than I am being billed now. Is that fair, rational, and possible?

Side question: The ER scheduled followup appointments for me at the same out-of-network hospital. My PCP was out of town and his backup was not helpful, nor did the PPO customer service advise me not to have my followups at the same hospital. I feel I was not negligent in trying to avoid out-of-network charges. Do I have a leg to stand on when it comes to protesting the followup appointment benefits?

Difference between rural and urban Medicare reimbursement

ikkyu2 — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 14:26:58 -0800

What is the difference between urban and rural Medicare physician reimbursements? Medicare/HCFA classifies service areas into "urban" and "rural." Rural services are reimbursed at a lower rate, but I am having trouble discovering how much lower that lower rate actually is, either as a percent or as an absolute value to compare. I'm most interested in neurologist services (new consultation, EEG/EMG, LP), but would be interested in learning about other medical and surgical specialties too.

Non-physician services such as rehab, hospital days, radiology tests, etc., are not the numbers I'm looking for. In fact, they seem to be the chaff that is preventing me from getting anywhere when Googling this topic.

Who killed the e-bill?

askmeanony — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 13:57:48 -0800

How come so many companies seem to be cancelling their e-bill services? I've recently gotten notifications from two different credit card companies saying that the electronic bill functions they offered are being cancelled, and that they are reverting to paper bills only. I liked the e-bill function. Why are they being cancelled?

To bill or not to bill?

disillusioned — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 17:49:55 -0800

RecurringBillingFilter: As a small-time hosting provider, we bill every month using ModernBill. MB Stopped working about 5 months ago, so about 12-15 clients went unbilled for that time... Where do we land re: back-billing? The MB problem was only just recently repaired, and we're left with the question of if they're still on the hook for the past 5 months of service. I know it might piss off some people to just hit them with $50 all of a sudden, so we're not going to do that without communicating the situation, but the hosting service was interrupted the entire time as well.

Also, we have at least one reseller on our server who back-bills his own clients for their hosting at a dramatic markup. He typically owes $70+ a month, and hasn't been billed (and thus, hasn't paid) for the past 5 months.

Should we consider it lost? Communicate with the few clients affected and then charge them? Or just take last month's and December's?

I'm asking from a logistical/ethical/whatever standpoint. The money would be very nice, since we just made some major purchases and we're a small business. We're on good terms with our few hosting clients, but not good-as-in-free-as-in-beer good.

Help me keep the hospital's thugs from breaking my kneecaps over $100 they seem to have lost.

weston — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 14:01:37 -0800

Is there anything one can do to fight a medical bill that appears to be incorrect? I visited the emergency room last fall. I paid a $100 copay at the time of service that appears to have never been applied to my bill. Despite several calls to the ostensible hospital billing office (really a cube-farm in Texas) pointing out some discrepancies, they've left the clock ticking, sent threatening notices, and are apparently determined to slash my credit rating if I don't pay *now*. What can I do? I have a receipt and a bank statement for the payment that was given at the time of service. The sticky point is that the account number on the receipt appears to be associated with "another account." The ostensible billing office that is actually a contracted cube farm has acknowledged that it would not be standard practice to create separate accounts for the same date of service, however, rather than acknowledge this looks fishy, they've come to the conclusion I must have visited the hospital on two separate occasions. But because they are not actually the hospital, they can't verify this -- and in fact, they weren't willing to admit that they *weren't* the hospital until last Tuesday when, upon getting their threat to report me to the consumer credit agencies, I went semi-ballistic and got a phone call escalated to a supervisor who, however unhelpful in other respects, at least pointed me to someone else I could talk to at the actual hospital to try and track down further information (previous to this point, said cube farm denizens always told me if I contacted other hospital offices, I'd be referred back to them).

So I've contacted local hospital offices every day since. Wednesday I got a verbal acknowledgement from medical records that something is indeed awry and the two separate accounts appear to have the same date of service, and was told they'd call me back. When they didn't, I called back Thursday morning and I was told they'd have to refer the case to supervisor in order to get more information and documentation about what happened, and they'd call me back in an hour or two. When they didn't, I called and left messages Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. No response. Today's a state holiday and they're all out, so my plan to camp out in their office for a few hours in the morning didn't work.

In their notice last week, and in subsequent angry phone calls, the ostensible billing office has assured me that starting tomorrow, they'll consider it time to charge off the debt and report me to the credit agencies, and there's nothing anyone can or will do about it unless I pay them or show them proof I already have on the same account they're trying to collect on. This seems ludicrous to me, given that I have proof that payment went to a different account, I've payed every other bill down to the cent, and they have it on record that I've been talking with representatives since last November to try and find out what's going on. It should be obvious to a kindergartener that I'm not simply dodging them.

Is there anything I can invoke that might give them pause?

If I pay them to avoid even potential damage (which I'm considering doing since I'm close to buying some real estate, just finished cleaning up my credit report, and really don't want trouble), and later discover proof of the billing problem, what are my chances of/means for getting money back?

Are there other options anyone can think of?

Good billing/invoicing software for Mac

eustacescrubb — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 08:45:31 -0800

Good billing/invoicing software for Mac that's suited to a graphic designer's needs?

How much will my cell phone bill be?

jacobw — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 10:20:20 -0800

Is there an online calculator to determine how much my cell phone bill will be? I'm on Verizon Wireless, and I'm talking and txt-ing a lot more now that most of my friends are long distance.

Is there a way to determine, quickly and easily, how much my bill will be next month? Online calculator would be nice, but I can do the math if shown how the billing works.

Example: $39.99 plan gives me 400 minutes and 1000 IN minutes.
If I were to talk more than 1000 minutes IN, what happens to the 400? What if I go over 1400 minutes total?

Not to mention that some minutes are "Peak" and some aren't.

Any suggestions?

Proper Invoicing for Sold Photograph?

Coherence Panda — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 11:36:11 -0800

I recently sold a photograph (of dragonflies copulating, no less) to an Italian publishing house. They asked me to send an invoice and appropriate tax information. This is the first time I've ever sold something like this; can anyone tell me what forms, et cetera I ought to use or make? Thank you!

My doctor has inflated my bill.

NortonDC — Tue, 16 May 2006 04:28:20 -0800

How do I fight an inflated doctor bill? Short version: My doctor presented me with a signed list of charges for a diagnostic visit, and later I received a bill that was $142 higher than what was presented at the time. I have their photocopy of the complete bill form. How do I fight this?

Long version: I've had several phone conversations with the doctor's office and their billing office. All they've done is restate the bill at the inflated level. It's for a set of X-rays that they say was mistakenly omitted from the charge sheet they presented to me. This is false; the X-rays are documented on the charge sheet. The relevant portion, pictured here, records that both knees were X-rayed, and the accompanying charge.

Weeks/months after the fact, after the insurance situation shook out leaving the bill entirely my responsibility (as I expected), the bill was mailed to my home, but now it was $142 higher than the ~$500 total indicated on the charge sheet, with no explanation other than "Pay up, or it rises by 1.5% per month."

In between diagnosis and billing, I got a second opinion from another doctor, at which I presented the X-rays the first doctor is charging me for. The second doctor's immediate reaction was visible frustration that the X-rays had been botched and were "useless" for diagnosing the condition in question. Doctor #2 ordered new X-rays, which led a diagnosis directly contradicting that of doctor #1.

And just adding to the fun is that doctor #1 used my case as an example with an intern, thereby teaching his poor technique to another doctor.

Given all this, I'm disinclined to passively accept more ill treatment in the form of bogus billing from this doctor. Justice would be getting no charge at all for the portion relating to the botched diagnosis, plus confirmation that he had admitted and documented the error with the intern. I'll settle for them sticking to the bill they signed and presented to me instead of pulling new charges out of thin air and expecting me to just suck it up. How do I fight this?

Free electricity!?

jeffxl — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 07:47:22 -0800

I've been living in my apartment since December, and I still haven't received an electric bill from ConEd. It was made clear that we had to sign up to receive power and we did that -- my wife called in, gave them her social security number, address, etc. Still, no bill. The meter man comes by every month and checks the meter. Still, no bill. My wife is of the opinion that we better fess up, or we'll be getting a nasty surprise in the future. I'm of the opinion "Hey! Free electricity!"

I want to call them up and ask some innocent questions, but I don't want to alert them to the fact that I'm getting a free ride. Any ideas?

I called the other day and got the automated system. I entered our phone number and my wife's SS#, both of which did not return a valid account. To me, that says we're not even in their system. If that's true, though, who is paying our bill? The previous tenant? Wouldn't he notice? Am I about to get stuck with a bill?

For anyone living in NYC, you probably know ConEd is run by a bunch of asshats. Between the freak electrocutions on the street, and manholes exploding, I think they've got their hands full. You think they'd notice a little billing error such as this one?

Has anyone had any similar experiences? What should I do?

Pushing the envelope

Kirth Gerson — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 12:35:25 -0800

Window envelopes - Why? (MI) The last remining bill that I pay that didn't use a window envelope has succumbed. Why do companies make their customers deal with these things? It's not so they won't have to pay for printing their address on the outside - many of them do just that, and use the window to show just the company name.

I assume it's to accomodate some automated equipment that opens the envelope and removes the bill, so the machine gets all the bills oriented the same.

What about my check? Does a person still have to read that? If so, why can't that person also remove the bill? If not, and the auomaton removes both pieces of paper, it must be able to orient the check for reading. Why can't it orient the bill, also?