HIPAA Form and Getting Medical Records

[somarco]

what can be done to move the process along as quickly as possible?

The only thing you can do is have your client bug the doc. Beyond that, there is nothing.

This is why I rarely write life insurance. Just can't deal with waiting 3 months+ for approval and another month+ for the commission.

 

[newmindfashion]

Bob,
No problemo. I figured you meant unauthorized.

Standingtall,
We aim to please.

 

[James]

I would like to know what the process is for getting medical records.

After a client signs up for a life insurance policy, as an agent I would like to personally get the medical records from the doctor by going to the office or whatever the fastest method is.

What do I need to do this? Can I just provide the HIPAA form and pay whatever fees there are?

It seems like getting these records is a process that takes a few weeks and no underwriting can really be done without it.

Have your client sign a release form and call the Dr's office, then go by and pick them up. Cost should be just a few bucks for copies then send them in after you go by the to pick up MVR report. This is how I was trained when first doing LTC via several companies and also life cases. By securing all documentation you'll see a quicker turn around time, don't know about some companies mention in this thread, simply call up the company you are doing business with and ask them if they'll except documents obtained by you.

 

[Frank Stastny]

Have your client sign a release form and call the Dr's office, then go by and pick them up. Cost should be just a few bucks for copies then send them in after you go by the to pick up MVR report. This is how I was trained when first doing LTC via several companies and also life cases. By securing all documentation you'll see a quicker turn around time, don't know about some companies mention in this thread, simply call up the company you are doing business with and ask them if they'll except documents obtained by you.

I have done the same thing in LTC cases and like you was trained to do it that way. I have sat in doctors offices for a couple of hours waiting for them to copy the records and then sent them to the company. Never had a problem with the company not accepting them. In fact I was kind of surprised to hear Bob say that his companies won't accept them if he acquires them.

I have kind of gotten out of selling LTC because of so many problems in underwriting. My time seems to be better spent and more productive selling Med Supps.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

I haven't had any problem getting health insurance companies to take medical records from me. I've had a lot of clients get their own records, fax them to me then I fax them to the company. No problems with Aetna, Time or Blue Cross.

I never wait for an APS nor do I want for companies like ESMI to drag their feet. In every case when an APS is ordered my client calls their doctor and almost without fail the doctor will fax the records over.

 

[J.R.]

I haven't had any problem getting health insurance companies to take medical records from me. I've had a lot of clients get their own records, fax them to me then I fax them to the company. No problems with Aetna, Time or Blue Cross.

I never wait for an APS nor do I want for companies like ESMI to drag their feet. In every case when an APS is ordered my client calls their doctor and almost without fail the doctor will fax the records over.

Don't doctors normally charge a fee for getting together an APS and sending it in? I am under the impression that the insurance company normally take care of the that (up to a limit), so what do you recommend in those cases?

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Some insurance companies don't take care of it. It's the client's responsibility to get their own records. Doctors will charge companies like ESMI to give them records. I have yet to run into a case where a doctor charges their own client. Once the client calls their doctor and states they really need their records due to getting health insurance normally the doctors fax it right over.

 

[J.R.]

Some insurance companies don't take care of it. It's the client's responsibility to get their own records. Doctors will charge companies like ESMI to give them records. I have yet to run into a case where a doctor charges their own client. Once the client calls their doctor and states they really need their records due to getting health insurance normally the doctors fax it right over.

From your experienced what is the typical time it takes to get an APS ordered and received? Do you have all of your clients talk with their doctor about getting an APS?

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

APSs can be relatively quick or take forever. Anywhere from 3 to 8 weeks. If an APS is ordered you definitely want to make sure the request is going to the right doctor. You many have noted their primary care doctor on the app, but the records need to come from their cardiologist.

They also might have just switched doctors. Assume a client just changed doctors a year ago. Now they request records from that doctor, get them 5 weeks later and the status is "incomplete records." They have need the doctor they saw before.

This is why in all APS cases I call the company and note the reason for the APS. Heart condition? Arthritis? The patient might see different doctors for each of those conditions.

Then I call my client, tell them to call their doctor and have the proper records faxed. Haven't had a problem.

This is also why I don't sell life insurance.

 

[James]

To really speed up underwriting if you can get the Records and attach them to the APS report along with App and send them all in at once a LTCi case can be approved in fairly quick time. Then again, my last few LTC cases were approved in under two weeks, of course these were on fairly healthy people. That would mean you have to be present while APS is being conducted.