Per the corporate medical policy

If you are considering undergoing an expensive medical procedure such as an MRI or a neuropsychological evaluation, be very careful when the insurance company states that the service will be covered 100% “per the corporate medical policy.” Those five words are they key…per the corporate medical policy. When patients hear this, they tend to think that this means the medical procedure will be paid in full and proceed with the evaluation. What is actually means is that a decision to pay for the service will not be made by the insurance company until after the evaluation takes place. What this often translates into is the insurance company finding every reason in the world not to pay for the service.

As an example, I was once evaluated a child who suffered a brain injury four years prior to the evaluation. There was a question as to whether the brain injury affected his development. The insurance company stated ahead of time that the service would be covered 100% per the corporate medical policy. The evaluation was completed and then the insurance company refused to pay because they said the brain injury occurred too long ago. This is frustrating because this information (the date of the brain injury) was well known in advance and the insurance company could have easily made a determination beforehand. Instead, the patient’s family was told they would need to pay thousands of dollars for the service, which they cannot afford.

Given the above, my advice is as follows. Press the insurance company to provide something in writing saying that the procedure is pre-authorized or not pre-authorized. If the company refuses, you may want to consider switching insurance companies at some point. Make sure the words “per the corporate medical policy” are not included because this only serves as a way for the insurance company to wiggle out of not paying. Secondly, be sure to appeal such cases to the insurance company. If that does not work, contact your state insurance committee. Insurance companies do not like to be bothered by state regulators. If \ this does not work, contact your local congressperson and have that individual call the insurance company on your behalf. You would not believe how effective this can be. Remember, the insurance company needs the help of lawmakers to pursue their agendas and does not want to make any legislative enemies. If the local congressperson does not work, call your state U.S. senator.

Improving your memory

As a neuropsycholgist, people often ask me if there are techniques they can use to improve their memory. Or course, there are basic things you can do such as write yourself lists, keep a portable memory notebook, use a daily planner, and put your keys in the same place every day.

However, if you want a formal system (particularly one that will help with school), my opinion is that Harry Lorayne takes the cake. When I was in HS, we all had to take a class with a religious teacher who made everyone try to memorize every book of the Bible in order. I knew there was no way I could do that with rote memory skills. So then I saw Harry Lorayne on TV and couldn't believe what I was seeing this guy do (memorizing entire magazines and he could say what page # the information was on!).

So I figured what the heck and purchased his memory power tapes. It was amazing. In the first week of the class, the teacher sarcastically asked if anyone has memorized all the books of the Bible yet. I raised my hands and said, "Not only have I memorized all the books of the Bible, but I'll say them backwards. Or, if you'd like, you can name a book of the Bible and I'll tell you what number it is. Or you can name a number and I'll tell you the book."

Everyone looked at me like I had some kind of super power when I did just that but I didn't. It was also based on an associative memory technique that Harry came up with that involves pairing numbers with phonics. It truly works and to this day I still remember that the 33rd book of the Bible is Ezekiel. You can use it for almost anything. This was just one example. Anyway, for those interested, information is available here, including some old clips of the master in action. I make no money off the sal of this product.

http://www.harrylorayne.com/

World's LARGEST Medical Message Board Created

MedFriendly is back. Well, the site never actually went away but during the time that I was preparing for board certification, the site was on a definite hiatus, without many updates. After becoming board certified in November 2008, I decided to take a few months off to decide what I was going to focus on. I wanted to continue MedFriendly, but it was clear that the site needed to be overhauled to a database-run system for the advertisements that I have on the site, which would prevent the unattractive appearance of dead links. As a result, I began the process of making this transition, but it will take some time. For now, if you click on a link and it does not work, try changing the extension from .html to .php5 or vice versa.

To commemorate the re-birth of MedFriendly, I have been working for months on creating the world’s largest medical message board which you can now find here:

MedFriendly Message Board

On this message board, you will find a wide array of topics and forums unlike any other on the internet. The message board has the advantage of consolidating an enormous amount of information in one convenient point of access. No longer do you need to skip from website to website to visit different medical forums when they are all in one location. The message board will help build a sense of community and has many fun aspects to it such as the ability to create your own avatar (personal picture to identify you). Topics and forums can be added simply be emailing me through the contact page.

Please take the time to sign up for the MedFriendly Message Board today and tell your friends and family about it as well. The only way a community of members can be built is by signing up. There are few members at the moment because the message board was just launched today. Registration is free, quick, and easy. Be sure to check your junk email box to make sure that the confirmation email was not sent there. As soon as you respond to the confirmation email, you are all set to post.

As to the blog, that will be continuing as well. Not every day, but there will be more frequent posts beginning today on diverse topics that are sure to inform and entertain. Please keep checking back for updates and remember, sign up for that message board. 