(Hartford, CT • November 2021) — Unpaid health care bills continue to overwhelm many Americans today. With the recent pandemic and rise in unemployment, medical debt will only intensify, adversely affecting credit scores and purchasing power.
Rather than ignore mounting and sometimes complex bills, health care consumers across New England now have Prime Patient Advocates, who will act on your behalf in claims negotiations, review and manage your medical expenses, and maintain a secure and accessible portal for all of your health records.
Hartford resident Pamela Edmonds spent many years frustrated over complex health care bills that mounted for her families’ medical treatments. Instead of making payments without question, she did her research and discovered billing errors and coding mistakes. After successfully appealing the charges, she was able to reduce her overall expenses, keeping her family from bankruptcy.
“You would be surprised by the price gauging, overcharges and errors on medical invoices — from the inflated costs for toothbrushes and sanitary pads, to being charged multiple times for the same thing. It happens more often than you would think. It is so important to review every single line item,” said Edmonds. “At Prime Patient Advocates we know what to look for including coding errors, overpriced items and even fake charges.”
Edmonds spent years educating herself on the complexities of the health care system while working full time in the insurance industry. She became one of the first Connecticut residents certified as a Patient Care Advocate, upholding the highest ethical standards as expected by the Patient Advocate Certification Board.
In November 2021, Edmonds officially launched Prime Patient Advocates to help alleviate health care consumer stress and mitigate financial disaster for individuals and families. “No one should have to go bankrupt to cure their disease or manage a health crisis,” said the mother of two adult children.
According to Lending Tree, almost 60 percent of U.S adults have had medical debt at some point in their lives. The American Journal of Medicine reports hospital bills are the biggest expense for those experiencing bankruptcy with the average hospital stay in the United States at $5,220 per day. Overall health care spending in the U.S. was more than $3.5 trillion in 2019, and continue to rise year after year.
Many health care consumers feel stuck between their medical providers and insurance company. Prime Patient Advocates takes the personal relationship out of the equation by acting on your behalf in claims negotiations and appeals. “We will also work directly with providers to help reduce balances and set up payment plans for our clients,” said Edmonds.
To keep personal health details organized, Prime Patient Advocates manages and consolidates health care records in a safe and secure online portal that is easy to access to retrieve information. “This is something I have always wanted for myself, so being able to offer a one-stop personal health portal to our clients has been a blessing and a tremendous advantage,” said Edmonds.
Prime Patient Advocates works with small business who would like to offer these services as a benefit to employees, or individuals and families who want to validate their health care costs and organize their health records. Discover more at https://primepatientadvocates.com.