On Jan. 16, U.S. Pain volunteers and members were treated to a presentation, “How to effectively prevent and resolve insurance coverage issues,” with Demian Fontanella, JD, general counsel for the Connecticut Office of the Healthcare Advocate (OHA). The webinars occur on the third Tuesday of every other month at 1 pm EST.

OHA is an independent state agency that provides advocacy services for Connecticut health care consumers. In 2016, OHA helped over 7,000 consumers with specific issues and saved Connecticut them more than $11 million combined. (For a list of similar agencies by state, click here.)

Fontanella discussed the different types of insurance and what laws apply to them and how to deal with denials–including reasons coverage is denied and different types of appeals.

One of his most basic pieces of advice was to document and track all conversations with both your insurance company and clinicians.

“Everytime you talk to anybody about any service, you need to write down who it was, when it was, and what they said… it’s not at all uncommon for there to be some miscommunication about how a plan is applied or what the terms may be.”

To view recordings of this webinar and past webinars, click here.The next webinar will be March 20 at 1 pm EST.